LONDON: Some of the world? best known shoe companies such as Clarks and Timberland yesterday condemned plans by Brussels to impose tariffs of up to 20% on leather footwear imports from China and Vietnam.The European Branded Footwear Coalition (EBFC), whose members employ 16,700 people in Europe, said the European Commission risked repeating the mistake of last summer? ?ra wars?over textile imports.?BFC members wonder why the Commission seems determined to give its citizens high-priced shoes in t

LAHORE: The textile industry of Pakistan is facing a serious shortage of labour and it is hindering the industry's growth, industry sources have said. Lack of institutional support, inflationary pressures and temporary movement of labour to other sectors are obstructing the growth of textile industry. A fresh investment of $5bn since 2001 has been made in the textile industry and still it has the potential to soak up another $5bn investment, but poor labour policies of the government are is

The Turkish textile Sector, known as the locomotive of export, has begun to feel the affects of the crisis due to the competition against China, high taxes and high valued YTL. Some companies have moved their factories abroad and some others have deviated to alternative sectors like tourism and construction. The sector representatives will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 28 and seek solutions for their problems. Eleven factories were closed in Gaziantep while

The East China's Fujian Province saw its textile exports increase by 47.8 percent year-on-year to 483 million U.S. dollars in January, according to the provincial customs statistics. However, textile exports to the EU nations and the U.S. markets shrank due to quota restrictions, industry insiders said. Textile exports to the United States dropped by 0.67 percent, and exports to the EU saw a slowing rise of 16.29 percent, much lower than the rises of 88.8 percent and 130 percent, respect

China's textile exports will on the whole remain stable this year, though regional trade disputes will continue, said an industry official. While addressing the 87th China knit and cotton textiles fair held in Shanghai on Thursday, Cao Xinyu, vice-chairman of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, said the market environment will be stable after China reaches agreements over textile trade with Europe and the United States. "China's exports to Europe and the United S

The slackness in Brazil? textile and apparel sales prevailing from June to October has turned the corner with the achievement of improved results for December.But man-made fiber sector is still in the red as monthly output of man-made fiber yarn and fabric declined 10.2 percent during December.Output for December registered the lowest level in over five years with double-digit declines recorded for the seventh month in a row.Cotton market share has gained due to sluggish performance of Man-made

The domestic textile sector has finally started firing in the post-quota era. For the first time in the post-quota era, the domestic textile exports to the US have grown faster than Chinese textile exports. In the November-December 2005 period, Indian textile exports to the US increased 40.8% over the same period last year while, at the same time, Chinese textile exports grew 27.6% in the November-December 2005 period. However, that India textile exports to the US still lag way behind China? in

The government struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday in the latest trade dispute with the European Union (EU), saying it hoped talks would stave off anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoe exports to the bloc. The European Commission said Monday it had evidence of dumping by Chinese and Vietnamese exporters of leather shoes after finding manufacturers benefited from state support. The commission, in charge of trade policy in the 25-member EU, declined to comment on measures it could take. But a

Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives Mtiti Fakudze has stated that the cotton industry was in the process of recovering.The Minister suggested that vacant government land can be turned into cotton farms.Government land measuring over 10,000 hectares next to Ndzevane in Big Bend is very fertile and it can be used for cotton farming, said Fakudze.The textile industry of the country will be able to buy cotton locally.Cotton is presently imported from Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique by many tex

Experts from the eight member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) continued discussion to come out with a common declaration on cotton for the sub-region? nations.Results of UEMOA`s participation in sixth World Trade Organisation Ministerial conference held in Hong Kong in December 2005 will be assessed.The results of the discussion will be deliberated at February 23 meeting of the Council of Ministers of Trade of the UEMOA member States - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d`I