South Africa and China signed a key pact to cushion the impact of Chinese textile imports here. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China was 'willing to take self-restrictive measures in order to ensure stability' in South Africa's ailing textile market. 'On the issue of the textile trade between South Africa and China, President Thabo Mbeki and I reached a full understanding between ourselves,' Wen told journalists in parliament where the deals were signed. 'We both agree that the issues in

Cotton sector decline since closure of commodity marketing boards in 1996, neccessitated the need to educate farmers to improve quality of Nigerian cotton. Considering this, the Federal Ministry of Commerce organized a workshop on cotton development under a title ?uality improvement for cotton: The role of farmers and ginners?in Gombe. Permanent Secretary, Janet Ogunleye noticed poor pricing of Nigeria? cotton and in some cases total rejection in international market. Ogunleye, however, comme

World Cup has led to many retailers suffering a blow as consumers stay indoors to watch matches as opposed to hitting the high street. However the football tournament also serves as a convenient excuse for retailers needing to explain weak trading figures. One such retailer is Woolworths which has revealed that total group sales from its combined retail and entertainment, wholesale and publishing businesses for the 19 weeks to June 10, 2006 have decreased 0.4 percent and in a further setback

Textile quota restrictions under WTO directives have forced China to explore fresh business avenues, and it is likely to strike one such trade opportunity with Philippines. It is reported that during a business meet, a trade delegation from Philippines negotiated with Chinese textile enterprises about joint venture in Guangdong Province. On the other hand, several Chinese textile enterprises have shown keen interest in setting up joint ventures with Philippines textiles companies. Delegates f

Senegal's textile and clothing industry was suffering, with 57 percent of domestic demand being serviced through fraudulent imports, said the minister of industry and crafts. Bineta Samb B?said that textile industries in the country were losing ground as a result of "the persistence of large scale fraud in imports, the negative impacts of globalisation and competition from foreign products". B?said that the customs worked against domestic production, by inflating the costs of inputs. The mini

Following introduction of quotas to curb explosive Chinese textile exports to the EU last summer, European textile businesses seem to have found other ways to import cheap clothing. The EU quotas on Chinese textiles lead to mountains of Chinese garments pilling up at ports in what became known in the press as the "bra war." But one year later the situation is completely different with as little as just one third of the quotas used up, according to Swedish business paper N24. Import statistics

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and nine other central government departments have issued a joint circular calling for the accelerated restructuring of the country's textile industry. The restructuring is designed to improve the innovative capacity of the industry, which currently only spends 0.3 percent of its sales income on research and development and imports most of its sophisticated equipment. Insufficient supply of cotton, chemical fibers and other raw materials

Polyester filament prices continued rising over the weekend in China, although raw material costs began easing. There is no clear price direction for raw materials, especially paraxylene, while crude oil prices are obviously falling. Polyester filament prices continued today rising in China with POY up 50 yuan on Qianqing's market while FDY and DTY gained 100 yuan per metric ton. Such an increase is obviously reflecting the recent surge in raw material costs of polyester producers. A consecuti

Textile manufacturers of Indonesia are incurring loss due to inefficient and obsolete machines that consume more fuel and affect quantity and quality of products. Considering the seriousness of the issue, Indonesia has plans to complete its overhaul of textile machinery by 2009. This in a way offers huge opportunity for China as Indonesia imports majority of its required textile machines from China. Indonesian textile industry undergoing such an overhaul, will be a blessing in disguise for Ch

Vietnam's garment and textile exports to the United States are likely to increase 8-10 percent annually at maximum after its entry in the World Trade Organization (WTO), local newspaper Youth reported Monday. "Despite enjoying the quota-free regime after joining the WTO, Vietnam will face difficulties in expanding its market share in the United States, mainly due to heavy reliance on outsourcing production and material import," the paper quoted Le Quoc An, chairman of the management board of t