Archive for December, 2008
LocalNews8.com, ID
RAWLINS, Wyo. (AP) - The Wyoming State Penitentiary has opened a new garment factory with the goal of putting inmates to work and making the state’s prison industries self-sustaining.
About 30 inmates work in the 7,800-square-foot factory that opened last month.
Garment Supervisor Steve Gibson says the prison hopes to employ up to 60 inmates per shift, but workers must have earned at least a General Equivalency Diploma and interview for the job as they would for a typical business.
The factory produces clothing for the state’s correctional institutions and produces department uniforms. It also does some contract work for private clothing businesses.
The inmates receive pay, but most of the money goes to pay for their incarceration, fines and restitution, and to a victims’ relief fund.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
December 29th, 2008
eTaiwan News, Taiwan
More than 10 local garment stores have suffered combined losses of NT$50 million (US$1.51 million) as a result of remittance fraud committed by a Chinese brokerage firm known to them as Guangda Co., the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
A store on the renowned Wufenpu business circle in Taipei’s Sungshan district, owned by a woman identified by her surname Wang, has been importing garments from China for over 10 years. Wang recently began to use Guangda Co. as her remittance broker, thinking she would be able to make savings on service charges.
She received a phone call one day from a person claiming to be Guangda’s accountant, who asked her to wire her payment to a different bank account. After remitting NT$1 million to the designated account, the company of course vanished.
December 23rd, 2008
Hindu, India
New Delhi (PTI): Indian textile was expected to clothe the world when export quotas were torn off three years ago, but far from giving the world its elaborate robe the industry was stripped naked in 2008 by the economic slowdown
The textile sector, which earns a tidy USD 52 billion from exports mainly to Europe and the US, and is the largest non-agriculture employer with 35 million workers, was virtually caught unawares by the turn of events in the world’s biggest markets for clothing, furnishing, handicrafts, jute and carpets.
Even domestic demand, which accounts for nearly half of the revenue, failed to cushion the impact as household budgets shrunk, especially in the poor and lower middle class segment.
The consequences were obvious — decline in exports, profitability, slowdown in investment and large-scale lay-offs.
“The Indian textile industry which was on the threshold of exponential growth a couple of years back, is today sliding down,” a FICCI sectoral study said.
As a result of weak global demand, textile exports which grew to USD 22 billion in 2007-08 from USD 19.7 billion in the previous fiscal started showing slackening trend in the current fiscal.
In January 2005, textile export quotas were eliminated in line with the agreement reached at GATT negotiations a decade ago, opening up an infinite possibility for exports. But 2008 saw shipments to the US, a major market, decline to USD 3.8 billion between January-August 2008 from USD 3.9 billion dollar a year ago, according to industry data.
Mills have so far laid off 700,000 people and if the situation does not improve immediately another 500,000 employees will be out of job in the next five months,industry and government estimates suggest.
A scrutiny of financial results of 28 textile firms by Assocham showed a 40 per cent drop in their net profits for the July-September quarter.
Investment into new textile facilities and modernisation has slowed down rather rapidly. The total cost of the projects seeking government help under the ‘Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme’ (TUFS) came down sharply to Rs 19,308 crore in 2007-08 from Rs 61,063 crore in the previous year.
The situation in the current fiscal is expected to be no better.
Government did come to the rescue. A stimulus package provided Rs 1,400 crore extra money under TUFS. However, the problem was in the investment scenario turning weak in the face of weak demand.
The situation is not expected to improve in the near future. “We expect the problems to continue for a few months,” Confederation of Indian Textile Industry Secretary General D K Nair said.
Besides recession in the US, which provides 60 per cent of the market for the Indian textile along with Europe and Japan, it was a tough going for the industry even on the domestic turf.
High prices of cotton in the domestic market brought the industry margins under pressure. The Government added to the industry’s problems by giving a hefty hike of 40 per cent in the Minimum Support Price for cotton farmers.
The government had set high ambitions for the industry in the 11th Five-Year Plan. It would require an annual growth of 16 per cent to reach the target of USD 115 billion by 2012 from the present industry size of USD 52 billion.
The growth rate this year, according to an industry study has fallen to 0.8 per cent. “It is unlikely that we would be able to achieve the double digit growth for current year, let alone the target of 16 per cent,” the FICCI study said.
The year 2008 gave a bad spin to the textile sector and there is little hope of change unless it weaves a strategic shift in the coming year.
Nafed seeks more funds to procure cotton
December 22nd, 2008
Meadow Free Press, ID
An online B2B trade typically refers to trade between the manufacturer and the distributor and the distributor and the retailer of merchandise. The contact between supplier and buyer is usually established online, particularly in B2B markets or B2B networking sites.
The suppliers describe their business and list their inventory. The buyers, on their part, browse around for the supplier/s that can give them what they need in terms of merchandise type, volume, quality, and price and proceed to contact their chosen suppliers/supplier.
Online B2B trade is not limited by geographical boundaries. A buyer could go to B2B trading sites with a worldwide membership base if he wants to obtain supplies from offshore territories. Correspondence news press release the trading parties is usually done online and payments are processed through internet funds transfer and banking services.
A B2B trade is similar but not the same as online retailing. It is similar because contact and sales occur online. There are also suppliers who display or auction off their merchandise and there are buyers who look for the best merchandise quality at the best price.
However, the suppliers and buyers in B2B trade are unlike that in online retailing. In the latter, the suppliers are the retailers and the buyers are the end consumers who will use the product or merchandise bought. In the former, both suppliers and buyers are business owners or entities.
The buyers in a B2B trade are not the end users of the traded merchandise. They are one step higher in the supply chain than the end users; they’re going to be the direct internet press release of the merchandise. In some cases, the buyer may also be a manufacturer who has bought raw materials for his own merchandise production (say a boat builder buying air conditioners for his line).
B2B Trade in Garments and Jewelry
Online B2B trading is particularly useful in the garments and jewelry industry. An American retailer can directly order wholesale sarongs, Aloha dresses, kaftans, crochet dresses, and other types of garments from garment factories in other countries like Indonesia. Sterling press release format accessories and jewelry can also be ordered direct from Asian factories or their authorized distributors. Masks, tribal artifacts and carvings can also be bought directly through B2B trading portals.
If you wish to become a retailer of garments and jewelry, you need to seriously consider becoming a member of a B2B trading product launch press release so you’d have access to authorized distributors and manufacturers. On the other hand, you can browse through the wholesale garments and jewelry dealers in the web and find those that offer quality merchandise at reasonable prices.
December 22nd, 2008
Business Standard, India
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has urged the government to release more funds for procurement of additional cotton at the minimum support price (MSP) this season.
We have procured 30 lakh quintals of raw cotton at an expenditure of Rs 900 crore as of December 17. It is insufficient given the record output estimates this year. The remaining Rs 700 crore from the total allocation of Rs 1,600 crore has been kept for pulses and oilseeds, which are yet to hit the market soon,” said U K S Chauhan, managing director of Nafed on the sidelines of the cotton contract launch by the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) on Saturday in Mumbai.
When asked about the amount Nafed has asked for, Chauhan said, “The government has to decide how much cotton we should buy. Any additional fund would be allocated only to cotton and nothing else.”
Meanwhile, the agency has already procured sunflowerseed worth Rs 27 crore so far this year.
During the last cotton season (October-September), Nafed had procured 30 lakh quintals. But, procurement pressure intensified this year because of record domestic production and a hefty raise in the MSP.
The government-nominated grain procurement agency buys agricultural commodities at MSP to assure confidence in the government system whereby farmers are assured of getting fixed price for their produce. The agency sells procured commodities when prices move up. In case of cotton, Nafed hopes to start offloading in February-March when inherently price rises on sustained mill demand.
Nafed is also planning to expand procurement in Gujarat, Karnataka and Punjab through its own network or engaging state federations, co-operative societies etc.
When asked, Chauhan said that it does not intend to appoint private agency to procure commodities on its behalf.
India’s cotton output is estimated at 322 lakh bales (170 kgs each) during 2008-09 season. The country constitutes about 70 per cent of cotton production while the rest is exported
December 22nd, 2008
Reuters
By Richard Lough
FORESTSIDE, Mauritius, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Textile firms in Mauritius that supply some of Europe’s biggest high-street stores are bracing for a tough 2009 as the global financial crisis tips developed economies into recession.
Already faced with the end of European preferential trade deals, the Indian Ocean island’s clothing companies have been hit this year by surging oil prices and an appreciating rupee, and now the global slowdown looks set to hit orders and profits.
“This is certainly the toughest I have seen it during the 20 years I have been in the trade,” said Harold Mayer, CEO of Ciel Textiles FKL.MZ.
According to the Central Statistics Office, textiles contribute 6.5 percent of gross domestic product, account for 11 percent of employment — and in the first nine months of 2008 textiles made up nearly 42 percent of exports from Mauritius, worth $550 million.
Ciel Textiles produces T-shirts and shirts for stores such as Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Next (NXT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in Britain and Spanish fashion chain Zara, which is owned by Europe’s biggest clothing retailer Inditex (ITX.MC: Quote, Profile, Research).
“Most of our retailers are in Europe, some are in the U.S., and their sales have on average dropped by 10 percent. To compensate for this fall in sales, they are fighting for better prices,” said Mayer, adding that he expected the middle market to be worst hit.
Ciel Textiles announced a 73 percent slump in post-tax profits for the year ending June 30, 2008 to 126.7 million rupees ($3.89 million) compared with 461.2 million for the same period last year, according to a company report.
Listed on Mauritius’ secondary Development and Enterprises Market, Ciel Textiles has seen its earnings per share drop to 1.12 rupees this year from 4.40 a year ago
December 19th, 2008
Alibaba News Channel, NEW YORK
Editor: Zhou Luying
The economic turmoil has started taking its toll worldwide and has started affecting operations of a majority of countries in the business of exports of textile and clothing. But the one country to beat this trend seems to be Indonesia which has a booming garment export industry and which accounts for 60 percent of all shipments from the textile sector.
This has come about due to the massive investment to the tune of US $363 million in the garment industry in the current year, which is expected to bring a growth rate of 11.4 percent in the present year and 10 percent in 2009. Clothing shipments are projected to touch $6.4 billion by end of this year compared to $5.82 billion last year.
Clothing shipments are expected to grow at a faster pace than the 8 percent projected for the textile sector as a whole. Sectoral exports are anticipated to reach $10.8 billion from $10.3 billion achieved in the last year. In spite of massive layoffs in the core textile industry, the garment industry has added 50,000 employees to its headcount of 1 million workers in 2008.
This level of employment in the apparel sector has been made possible only because of the substantial investment in the sector in 2008, which is the highest in five years. Irrespective of the layoffs in the textile sector, the booming garment sector has still not witnessed any closures or part closures leading to layoffs till date.
Exports from the garment industry account for a marginal 3-4 percent of global exports and ranks 11th among all global exporters, but is expected to better in future years, if it complies with best manufacturing practices as prevalent in a few other Asian countries. Experts aver that the biggest stumbling block faced by exporters is lack of proper communication and marketing tools and also to a great extent research and development activities.
But they add that the markets of the US and EU will continue to be the main markets from the sector, with Russia and the Middle East acting as buffers. The US is the major destination with a market share of 26 percent, followed by the EU with 12 percent, ASEAN 5 percent and Japan 3 percent.
Source: www.fibre2fashion.com
December 18th, 2008
Fibre2fashion.com, India
Recently, National Wages Council approved pay hike for nine industries, including garment, printing, building, hotel and catering, security, road transport, saw milling, and wholesale and retail that would come into effect from January 1, 2009.
Security guards and garment factory workers are amongst lowly paid workers. The Garment Industry, has received 20 percent pay rise compared to the old wage rate of US $1.48.
“Our garment workers are currently the lowest paid workers in the country and their wages have not been increased for three years. The Wages Council has suggested that for beginners the increase should be from $1.25 an hour to $1.50 an hour. For those with over 5 months experience, the payment should be hiked from $1.48 an hour to $1.78 an hour. Even if these proposals are accepted, our garment workers will still be the lowest paid workers catered for by the Wages Councils,” told Father Kevin Barr Chairman National Wages Council, while speaking to Fibre2fashion.com.
Apart from increase in wages certain other benefits should be given to the employees of garment factories. “There should also be an increase in meal allowance but this was put on hold for the time being. No other benefits were granted by the Wages Councils. However our new Wages Regulation Promulgation provides good maternity benefits for women at work who are having children. Anyways a number of employers are not happy with these maternity provisions,” says Father Kevin Barr.
It is obvious that raising worker’s wages is going to benefit the garment industry of the country. At the moment workers in this sector are earning wages well below the poverty line (currently F$164 a week). A better wages should mean that they are better fed, housed and that they can pay school fees for their children. Now, they should be more content workers and more productive.
Discussing the future of the garment sector in Fiji, the Wages Council Chairman said, “At the moment world is going through an economic downturn and, while Fiji is said to be fairly safe from the worst of the problems, we will certainly be affected in some ways. The garment industry in Fiji has declined in recent years due to the loss of quotas. We hope it will survive and find ways to flourish but it should not expect to survive on the basis of poverty wages.”
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
December 17th, 2008
Sify, India -
K. Ram Kumar
Mumbai: The intensive care unit for the distressed constituents of India Inc – the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) Cell – is witnessing an increased inflow of cases seeking debt restructuring.
The double whammy of global and domestic economic slump has led to 15 cases, of which over half are from the textiles sector, with cumulative debt of Rs 3,200 crore getting referred to the Cell for restructuring in the last few months.
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That the crisis in the textiles sector is acute is underscored by the fact that a small committee has been constituted under the aegis of CDR Cell for resolution of cases pertaining to distressed companies from the sector.
Of the 15 cases referred to the CDR Cell, eight with debt ranging between Rs 100-200 crore per company are from the textiles sector, while the rest pertain to steel, automobile component manufacturers, and others.
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CDR role
Corporate debt restructuring package is implemented via additional finance, be it for working capital or term loan, being granted by all creditors on a pro-rata basis to a viable corporate, by providing moratorium on interest payments, reducing the interest rate charged, conversion of the corporate’s debt/ overdue interest into equity, etc.
The problems faced by manufacturing units, especially in the spinning, weaving and processing segments, in the textile sector are manifold.
Textile firms battle global slump
Sector of woes
Pointing out the predicament of the textile sector, a senior official with a state-owned bank said: “Textile exports have been hit hard by the recession in the Western countries.
“Further, steep increase in the price of inputs such as cotton, dyes and chemicals, electricity, and high interest cost, coupled with the fact that rupee was ruling strong at the beginning of the calendar year added to the woes of textile manufacturers.”
Fiscal stimulus disappoints textile sector
Citing client confidentiality, the official declined to reveal the names of the eight textile companies that are currently undergoing restructuring.
The downturn in the textile sector has cast a pall of gloom on the future of those employed in the sector. About a fortnight ago, the Commerce Secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, quoting Textile Ministry estimates, said that five lakh people could lose jobs in the textile sector in the next five months due downturn in the sector. The CDR mechanism was instituted according to the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India in August 2001 for the revival of viable corporates, which sometimes get into financial difficulty because of factors beyond their control and also due to certain internal reasons, as well as to minimise the losses to banks and financial institutions and other stakeholders through an orderly and coordinated restructuring programme.
Progress card
Currently, the CDR Cell is seeking to restructure 88 corporate debt cases, entailing an aggregate debt of around Rs 47,000 crore. Since inception, the Cell has approved 168 corporate cases for restructuring with cumulative debt of Rs 83,000 crore. Of the approved cases, while 45 corporates (aggregate debt: Rs 32,000 crore) have successfully been restructured, 33 cases (aggregate debt: Rs 3,700 crore) have been withdrawn.
References to the CDR cell for corporate debt restructuring can be made either by creditors or borrowers. The scheme covers only multiple banking accounts/ syndication/ consortium accounts of corporate borrowers with outstanding fund-based and non-fund based exposure of Rs 10 crore and above by the banks and financial institutions.
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The initiative to resolve a case under the CDR system is taken by at least 75 per cent of the creditors (by value) and 60 per cent of creditors (by number).
December 16th, 2008
VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam
VietNamNet Bridge - The textile and garment industry has been targeted to gain an export turnover of US$12 billion by 2010 under a new strategy approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
The strategy on the garment and textile industry has development to 2015 and vision toward 2020 as its objective.
Under the plan, the industry’s export growth rates for 2010 will be at 20 per cent. Figures for 2015 and 2020 are expected to be 15 per cent.
The strategy aims for an export turnover of $18 billion by 2015. The estimate figure for 2020 is $25 billion.
All capital sources from domestic and international investors will be drawn on to meet the targets, said MoIT deputy minister Bui Xuan Khu.
More investment in raw materials and accessories to minimise the industry’s dependence on imports will be called for. This will help domestic production to meet 50, 60 and 70 per cent of domestic demands on materials by 2010, 2015 and 2020, respectively.
The industry will be churning out roughly 490,000, 550,000 and 1.1 million tonnes of cotton and fibre by 2010, 2015 and 2020 respectively, under the strategy. Fabric will be produced at the level of 1 billion sq.m, 1.5 billion sq.m and 2 billion sq.m by the mentioned years.
The main supply centres for technology, designs, raw materials and accessories will be located in large cities, including Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang and Can Tho, Khu said, so that materials can be provided in good time for garment businesses.
Production establishments already located in major cities will be moved out to neighbouring provinces of the above main supply centres, where garment industrial warehouses will be set up.
Training courses on production management, fabric design, skills analysis and sales techniques will be opened to develop human resources within the garment and textile industry.
The industry will supplement human resources development through its work with international organisations, which will help to develop workers’ technical skills in Viet Nam and abroad.
Relevant bodies will support garment and textile businesses with negotiation and the expansion of export markets. The bodies will advise businesses on how to avoid trade barriers applied by importing countries.
The overhaul of administrative procedures to simplify tax and customs requirements for garment and textile exporters will also form part of the strategy.
December 15th, 2008
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