Mainland fabric makers face cotton price increases of as much as 15 percent and a squeeze on margins as the United States, the world's largest exporter of the commodity, eliminates export subsidies on the raw material in 2006, according to one manufacturer. Fountain Set, a Hong Kong-listed knitted fabric maker, told analysts the cotton price could surge by between 10 and 15 percent next year because of the end of the subsidies. Cotton is the main raw material for textile companies and accounts

Uzbekistan, the world's sixth largest producer of cotton and the second largest raw cotton exporter in the world, has reported increased figures in production of cotton fibre, up by 22.9 percent to 1,069 tons, for January-November 2005, said the Uzbek State Statistics Department.Last year, the production of cotton fibre went up by 3.3 percent to 976,656 in comparison to the previous year, whereas exports of cotton fibre increased by 18.5 percent. Production of raw cotton stood at 3.8 million ton

Vietnam plans to grant automatic visas as of Jan.1, 2006 for textile and apparel exports to the US. However, as soon as 70 percent of the export quota is achieved, automatic visas will stop and the ministries of Trade and Industry will regulate the remaining export volume. At a meeting of almost 200 northern textile and apparel enterprises in Hanoi on Dec. 27 to review the management of textile export quotas in 2005, Deputy Trade Minister Le Danh Vinh said that early quotas will be grante

CAPE TOWN ?Government was on the verge of concluding a voluntary restraint agreement with China to stem the flood of Chinese clothing and textile products into the country, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Rob Davies said yesterday. Signature of the long-awaited agreement will go some way to assuage criticism of government? inaction by clothing and textile manufacturers and trade unions. Both labour and business have blamed the flood of cheap Chinese imports for the decline of the industry,

Strong competitions in the first public bid for China's textile quota to the US next year have pushed bid prices ten times above the minimum bid prices set by the Government.If the minimum bid price for men's woolen trousers was 12 yuan (US $1.5) per dozen, the bid opening price started at 192 yuan per dozen that is 15 times over the minimum bid price, according to sources.Cotton trousers were bidden at the minimum price of 8 yuan per dozen, while opening price was 102.The cost to export compani

An investigation has been initiated by the European Commission into the alleged dumping of Indian polyester spinning fibres in Europe, reported by a European trade body Foreign Trade Association (FTA).In response to a request made by French fibre association Comite International de la Rayonne et des Fibres Synthetiques (CIRFS), the Commission has taken steps to look into the matter.According to CIRFS, polyester producers of India have been selling their goods at cheaper rates in countries like C

United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the brief summary of the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.New Market Access for US Consumer and Industrial Products Eighty percent of US exports of consumer and industrial products to Peru will become duty-free immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over 10 years. Key US exports will gain immediate duty-free access to Peru. Peru has agreed to allow trade in remanufactured goods, and will join the WTO Information Technology Agreement.Th

Canton Textile, the Chinese textiles fair for machines, fibres, yarns and finishing is looking forward to provide a vital sourcing platform for clothing fabrics and trimmings. The main objective of the International Apparel Sourcing Fair, which will run from 1 to 3 March 2006, is to establish direct relations between European, American and Japanese customers and the manufacturers in Guangdong. By early December, it has received some 450 registrations for both events.In Guangdong province, more t

Indian Textiles Industry is ready to break all previous records reaching US $50 billion dollar by 2010.Till last year, annual export rate of Indian textile was $15 billion, but globalisation and some encouraging steps taken by the centre have expanded exports from about 3.5 percent till 2003-04 to over 16 percent at present, informed Rajeev Aggarwal, Secretary, Textiles Committee, Government of India, on the eve of a one-day workshop on textile industry.The EU countries and the USA are main dest

The already-ailing Indonesian textile sector had the ladder kicked away from it this year. Early in 2005 it was charged with being ill-prepared to face the termination of the Multi Fabric Agreement (MFA), which 20 percent of textile manufacturers here were previously reliant upon. The termination agreement was in fact reached a decade ago. Without the global textile quota system, the market will indeed be freer, that is for those with high competitiveness, which currently reads, China