The glut in the global cotton stocks is expected to continue in 2015-16, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). In 2014-15, world ending stocks are estimated to have risen by 9 per cent to 22 million tonne, reflecting a stock-to-use ratio of 90 per cent, the ICAC said in a press release. From 2010-11 to the end of 2014-15, the world has accumulated 13.4 million tonnes of stock due to production exceeding consumption. In 2015-16, stocks are projected to decrease 5 per cent to

In China, manufacturing wages adjusted for productivity have almost tripled over the last decade, to an estimated $12.47 an hour last year from $4.35 an hour in 2004. China’s surging labor and energy costs are weakening its competitiveness in manufacturing, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Boston Consulting has estimated that for every $1 required to manufacture in the United States, it costs 96 cents to manufacture in China. Yarn production costs in China are now 30 percent higher t

The committee, formed to settle the Swan Garment crisis, sought Tk1.39 crore as loan or help under Corporate Social Responsibility programmes from Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd to pay at least one month wage of the workers. A letter was sent to the bank authorities seeking the amount as per the decision made at the second meeting of the committee yesterday. Swan Garments mortgaged its properties to Islami Bank. It owed Tk42 crore to the bank. The government formed the committee to find sol

All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association chairman S.M. Tanveer on Tuesday announced to defer the Aug 7 strike for a month following an assurance by the finance minister that the issues pertaining to surcharge in electricity bills, innovative taxes and the Gas Infrastructure Develop-ment Cess (GIDC) will be resolved by Aug 31. The resolution of the issues will ease a burden of Rs175 billion on the sector annually. “We will call another general body meeting on Sept 4 to decide about our strat

There seems to be no respite in backward drive in cotton prices on Tuesday as phutti (seed-cotton) with higher moisture content continues to arrive into ginneries, coupled with sluggish off-take of cotton yarn which depresses the market. Floor brokers said that heavy rains and floods causing devastation in both Sindh and Punjab though they did not inflict major damage to standing cotton crop, higher moisture content has badly affected phutti quality. Moreover, slow-off take of cotton yarn

In January-June period of this year, China's exports of textiles (textile yarn, fabric and made-up goods) and garment dropped slightly by 3.08% to US$ 128.38 billion, showing a narrowed decline. The export of textiles stood at US$ 52.91 billion, down 0.7% from a year earlier; and the export of garment amounted to near US$ 75.47 billion, down 4.7%. The import of textiles dropped 5.2% from a year earlier to US$ 9.66 billion during the same period. In June, the export and import of textiles

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it will to work closely with National Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Policy Committee to promote Made-in-Nigeria products. “This will also encourage the resuscitation and restoration of Nigerian textiles industries in the country,” NIPC informed in a press release. Uju Aisha Hassan Baba, executive secretary of NIPC said, “NIPC is not only promoting foreign direct investment (FDI), but also encouraging local investment, as they too

Following the recent US government extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for 10 years, under which Kenyan textiles trade in the American market. The Kenyan government has taken the first steps to revive the textile industry with plans to give cotton farmers 750 tonnes of certified seed this year. In the short term, the government, through the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (Affa), will provide 50 tonnes of seed for free to cotton growers by end of August, with t

In view of rising imports of batik textiles, Indonesia's Ministry of Trade has issued a regulation requiring all importers of batik-patterned fabrics to register with the ministry and seek special permit for import. Addressing a press conference in Jakarta last week, trade minister Rachmat Gobel said, “There is a rising trend in imports of batik textiles...so, we need to put an effort to preserve domestic batik industry by blocking batik textile imports.” In January-April 2015, Indonesian

For the six months ended June 30, 2015, revenue at industrial thread and consumer textile crafts manufacturer and marketer Coats Group went up 4 per cent on a like-for-like basis. In a statement, Coats said its sales for the first half of 2015 grew 4 per cent on a like-for-like basis, but was down 3 per cent on a reported basis to reach US $748.1 million. It added that its Speciality business continued to generate double digit sales growth and achieved 13 per cent year over year growth in