Archive for January, 2009
Xinhua, China
Special Report: Global Financial Crisis
BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — China’s cotton prices continued tore bound in December as state purchases offset the impact of a weaker textile industry on cotton demand, said the country’s top economic planner Thursday.
The average price of un-ginned cotton sold on the Chinese mainland market rose to 4.78 yuan (70 U.S. cents) per kilogram at the end of December, up 0.4 yuan from the lowest point in November, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The price had seen consecutive declines from 5.76 yuan per kilogram at the beginning of September till mid-November.
Cotton demand has decreased since the second half of last year as China’s textile industry bore the brunt of the global financial crisis.
The NDRC attributed the price rise to the government’s massive purchases of cotton from farmers since October.
In order to support domestic cotton prices and reduce farmers’ losses, the NDRC announced plans in October and December to buy 2.72 million tons of cotton from growers as state reserves.
By the end of December, 53.4 percent of the planned purchases had been completed, said the NDRC.
China’s textile and garment export climbed 8.2 percent year-on-year to 185.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, customs data show. The growth was 10.7 percentage points lower from the 2007 rate.
As a result of reduced foreign demand, Chinese textile firms saw profits for the first 11 months of 2008 fall 1.77 percent from the same period of 2007, to 104.2 billion yuan, official figures show. It was the first decline in ten years.
January 30th, 2009
Providence Journal, RI
By Paul Edward Parker
Journal Staff Writer
A Cranston textile company that was founded in 1807 will stop its manufacturing operations, which are done in Massachusetts, by June 1, company officials said yesterday.
Cranston Print Works, which prints patterns on fabric aimed at the home sewing market, will still design patterns, purchase raw fabric, and market and distribute the finished products. But it will outsource its printing operations to factories in Fall River, and Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and China, officials said.
“This step is taken so we cannot only survive, but thrive,” company president George W. Shuster said in an interview.
“It’s not something we came to lightly at all,” vice president Frederic L. Rockefeller Jr. said.
The decision ends a tradition of textile printing that began in 1824 when William Sprague, who would later be elected governor and U.S. senator, established a small cotton printing plant as part of his family’s textile business. The company grew and, in 1936, bought a textile plant in Webster, Mass., that had been built by Samuel Slater, the Pawtucket industrialist recognized as father of the American Industrial Revolution.
Today, the Webster plant is still in operation and home to Cranston Print Works’ printing facilities. The company’s headquarters remains in Cranston, but printing operations there ceased in 1996. Design work is done out of an office in New York City.
When the Webster factory stops printing this year, about 75 people will lose their jobs and the printing equipment will be sold. But the plant will continue to operate as a sales and distribution facility. The company will still employ more than 200 people after shutting down printing, Rockefeller said.
Two subsidiaries of Cranston Print Works, Bercen Inc., which makes chemicals for the paper industry, and Cranston Trucking, will not be affected by the halt of printing operations.
Rockefeller said the printing operations were a victim of the generally slow economy as well as changes in the fabric-printing business, which is trending toward smaller volumes of a greater variety of patterns. Rockefeller said Cranston’s printing operations made money by printing large volumes of each of its patterns. “A lot of our customers were looking for unique assortments,” he said.
Shuster also blamed U.S. trade policy that, he said, encourages imports but discourages exports.
The company also had been hurt in recent decades when apparel manufacturing and home decor manufacturing moved overseas. “They followed the cheap needle offshore,” said Rockefeller.
Shuster said that laid-off employees are being offered severance packages and that many of them are eligible for retirement. “It takes some of the sting away, but there’s nothing you can do to totally eliminate it.”
pparker@projo.com
* Print this page
* Add RSS feeds
* E-mail this story
* Buzz up!
*
Advertisement
Projo Video
Ground broken for new RI State Police headquarters
Burned dog recovers at East Providence Animal Control
Sailors from the USS Philippine Sea do community service at Lucy’s Hearth in Middletown
More projo videos
Breaking | Offbeat | More
More business stories
Resumption of work on $8-million yacht contract brings back workers
Unemployment claims send stocks downward
Navigating through troubled waters
More …
Most Viewed Yesterday
Updated Tues 1.27.09
For the Sox, Daeges and Johnson are two more positive signs
Data shows it pays to be a R.I. legislator
Red Sox’ reported offer to Varitek should be their last piece of offseason business
URI fraternity banished following student’s arrest
Aretha’s hat upholds tradition born in churches of the South
Most active surveys
Updated Thu 1.29.09
Was Jason Jarvis being unpatriotic in flying his American flag upside down?
Share your stories of buying and selling homes in Rhode Island in recent months.
There’s snow in the forecast. Will they cancel school again?
R U wiLN 2 Lern 2 txt 2 stA clOs 2 yor child?
Will Mayor Cicilline’s changes at the tax office make a difference?
Most e-mailed in the last 24 hours
Housing prices in Rhode Island sink to 2003 levels
All thumbs: How parents today can connect with teens
Bill Reynolds: Friars’ win not one that can be overlooked
Waiver may cut share of stimulus
Brown endowment takes a hit
Popular Stories
January 30th, 2009
Addison County Independent, VT
Bizjournals.com, NC
Delta Apparel Inc. will shutter its textile manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, N.C., and consolidate the jobs to plants in North Carolina and Honduras.
The move will cut 107 jobs, the Duluth, Ga.-based clothing company said. The Fayetteville campus will continue to employ 550 associates in sewing, screen printing, retail packaging, distribution, and product and art development, along with all sales and administrative functions for M. J. Soffe.
Delta Apparel will consolidate textile production for its M. J. Soffe business, currently in Fayetteville, into its operations in Maiden, N.C., and its Ceiba Textiles facility in Honduras. The movement of production starts should be done by June 2009. The plant closing is expected to save Delta Apparel (AMEX: DLA) $1 million annually.
“These decisions are never easy especially when they affect associates who have been dedicated and loyal to our company,” said Bob Humphreys, Delta Apparel president and CEO, in a news release. “However, as our business becomes increasingly competitive, we can no longer justify the additional cost associated with operating two U.S. textile facilities. We believe this economic decision is in the best long-term interest of Delta Apparel and our shareholders.”
January 30th, 2009
Fibre2fashion.com, India
January 28, 2009 (USA)
The Garment Center Historic District has recently been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Known for its pristine collection of 1920’s-era loft buildings as well as the source of recent zoning controversy, the historic district comprises nearly 25 blocks in midtown Manhattan, and roughly spans the area from 34th to 41st Streets, Sixth to Ninth Avenues.
The Garment Center Historic District contains a total of 251 buildings, of which 215 are listed as contributing properties. Listing on the Register is an honorary designation that makes contributing property owners eligible for participation in certain federal historic preservation tax incentive programs, but does not impose preservation restrictions on affected properties.
Built almost entirely between World War I and the Great Depression for the garment industry, many of the historic district’s buildings were designed by preeminent architects working during the period, including Ely Jacques Kahn, Emory Roth, Blum & Blum, Schwartz & Gross and Starrett & Van Vleck. These buildings once collectively housed the largest garment-manufacturing workforce in the world.
The Garment Center has been the source of much controversy since the City Planning Commission’s announcement in February of 2007 that it is planning to unveil a still-pending proposal to ease the stringent zoning restrictions of the Special Garment Center District (SGCD), which is situated almost entirely within the new historic district. Enacted in 1987, the SGCD zoning requires the maintenance of approximately 5 million square feet of space for manufacturing and apparel-related uses. Industry groups and the city estimate that approximately 800,000 square feet is currently being used in such a capacity.
Landlords have long complained that the zoning is outdated and artificially depresses rents, while textile unions and manufacturers have fought to preserve affordable production space in Manhattan. Market rents for Class B and C office spaces are currently 2 to 3 times those for comparable spaces restricted for manufacturing use. The new zoning regulations are expected to drastically reduce the amount of square footage reserved for manufacturing use to as little as 350,000 square feet, thereby enabling owners to convert existing manufacturing spaces to office use.
“The federal historic preservation tax incentive programs now available to contributing property owners offer substantial economic assistance in both the maintenance and/or conversion of these important historic properties,” explains Trust for Architectural Easements representative Sean Zalka.
The Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Incentive Program provides owners with a tax credit equal to 20% of the costs of a qualified rehabilitation of the historic property. The Federal Historic Preservation Easement Program encourages owners of eligible properties to make historic preservation easement donations to qualified organizations such as the Trust for Architectural Easements. Owners who participate in the Program are eligible to receive federal income tax deductions in exchange for the contractual assurance that they will preserve the building in perpetuity.
The Trust for Architectural Easements is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit organizations dedicated to voluntary preservation through easement donations. The Trust protects more than 800 historic buildings across the United States and approximately 550 historic properties in New York.
Garment Center Historic District
January 29th, 2009
Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Mustaqim Adamrah , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA
Reports on real sectors globally hit by the economic crisis appear everyday in the mass media. It is clear some industrial sectors could do badly this year. The steel sector faces global over-production and there are serious dangers of dumping of low cost imported steel.
Similarly demand for textiles and shoes is badly affected by recession in the United States and Europe, whilst low cost producers in Asia are still anxious to move their products. Despite plans for Indonesian exporters to shift from traditional to non-traditional export destinations, this will take time to organize.
To get an idea on how low some industrial sectors in Indonesia will go during the downturn The Jakarta Post interviewed the Industry Ministry’s director general for metal, machinery, textile and miscellaneous industries, Ansari Bukhari; Here are the excerpts:
Question: Which industries overseen by your directorate general are hardest hit by the global economic crisis?
Answer: Steel and textiles, as well as footwear. These are the industries we predict will be the hardest hit by the impact of the global economic crisis.
In the steel industry, the issue relates to the competition between domestic steel products and imported ones. Imported steel prices are so low that, according to our measures, they are no longer normal (market transactions).
Many theories explain the reasons behind this.
One of them is overproduction, resulting from unbalanced supply and demand. Steel demand declines as activities in the global market lessen, while production capacity remains the same.
A rather more extreme theory says there are many “floating cargos”.
That means many goods are already on their way to markets, mainly to the United States and Europe, but the buyers there make sudden cancellations, although they have already paid a 30 percent down payment.
These buyers prefer losing 30 percent down payment to accepting their orders and then having to pay the rest.
On the other hand, producers can resell the canceled cargos at cheaper prices without having to suffer losses because they have received a 30 percent down payment.
This is hitting our world markets.
For textiles, including garments, fiber and yarn, this can happen to our exports.
We export 75 percent of total textiles production. Of the exported textiles, more than half goes to the United States and Europe - two regions severely hit by recession. As a result, our main markets are falling.
The same situation goes for the footwear industry.
What is the worst thing that can happen to these industries?
Manpower is the toughest issue that concerns us most.
In terms of production and labor force, the textile industry is the biggest and the steel industry comes second.
The crisis may mean companies shut down. When they do not operate, they do not generate money, thus, they cannot buy raw materials, cannot produce and cannot pay salaries.
This would result in dismissals.
Dismissals would create a huge social impact, not only on the dismissed workers themselves, but also on their families and on other associated multiplier economic activities.
The national steel industry may employ less then 100,000 workers. But in the textile and footwear industries, there are almost 2 million workers (at risk).
Another thing that worries us is that the steel industry is among our strategic industries, which have taken us quite a long time to develop.
What has the government done and what does it still need to do in dealing with the impact of the global economic downturn?
First, the government is making attempts to protect our domestic market through Trade Ministry regulations, so that our market is mainly supplied by our domestic industries.
A Trade Ministry regulation No. 56/2008 — an amendment to regulation No. 44/2008 — controls imports of, among others, textiles and footwear at a limited number of ports.
We are considering proposing similar treatment for imported steel. This is being discussed internally within the directorate general as well as in the Trade Ministry.
Another idea is that we are working on expanding the coverage of the Indonesian National Standards (SNI), to protect our market from the penetration of poor-quality products sold at very cheap prices.
Our second challenge is how our industries can continue exports.
We are pushing for continuous promotion of our domestic products in the global market, that is to penetrate new markets, so that we can maintain the real sector.
We are also pushing government institutions to use domestic products.
A presidential instruction, which is now under preparation, will stipulate that government institutions must use local products for their procurement of inputs.
The government’s latest idea is actually a stimulus package concept. We have yet to reach a decision on what form or how it will be implemented.
We previously suggested that the stimulus package be in terms of waived value added tax on raw materials, but this may not be approved due to implementation problems.
Then, we suggested that the stimulus be in the form of trade financing for manufacturers to get loans from banks to boost working capital.
Our suggestion is also that we help provide collateral for borrowers as a stimulus.
This concept is still at the early stage and is being discussed by the Office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Discussions on the stimulus package are ongoing and unlikely to be fully concluded by the end of the month.
January 28th, 2009
AngolaPress, Angola
Luanda – Angolan designer Lisete Pote highlighted, in Luanda, the need for increasing investment in the textile industry, as a way of guaranteeing the affirmation of Angolan fashion.
In an interview to ANGOP during Luanda Fashion event, promoted by Pango Models, Lisete Pote stated that Angolan fashion market lacks more investment, both from the State and private sector, bearing in mind the conquest of place in the international fashion world.
To Lisete Pote, with a strong and active textile industry, Angola’s fashion market will take a big step forward.
The workshop was part of Kianda Fashion Day 2009 programme, organised by Pango Models in Atlântico cinema, in Luanda, as part of the capital city’s 433rd foundation anniversary.
January 27th, 2009
Indian Express, India
Express News Service Posted: Jan 23, 2009 at 2317 hrs IST
Print Email Feedback Discuss
Related Stories: ‘Need for cost-effective agricultural technology’MSP for wheat, sugarcane to be increased, says HoodaMiffed with official goof-up, Phagwara
farmers turn bonus cheques to ashesPanel’s report on farmers misleading, says KVMErratic power supply, frost-like conditions worry Punjab farmers
Amritsar: Three textile parks to come up in Punjab, says Union minister Vaghela
Union Minister for Textiles Shankersinh Vaghela today said commission agents were robbing cotton farmers in Punjab. He said while most of the state governments have done away with commission agents, who were siphoning off crores of rupees from farmers every year, the Punjab Government has failed to eliminate the age-old system of middlemen.
Vaghela, who was talking to mediapersons after attending the meetings of Hindi Salahkar Samiti and Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Textile, said Punjab was the only state where commission agents take 2.5 per cent from farmers’ hard-earned money. “This year alone, cotton growers of the state have paid more than Rs 30 crore to the commission agents,” he said, while suggesting the state government to waive the 2 per cent sales tax on the crop.
When asked about any special package, he said the government was concerned about farmers, but extending the same facilities to rich farmers was not justifiable
He also said the case of waiving of Rs 2,600-crore loans of handloom cooperatives was lying with the Finance Ministry. He admitted that the industry was facing tough competition from China and they were mulling a relief package. “The economic downturn in the USA, EU and other developed nations is affecting the industry. The government is in the process of setting up 40 textile parks throughout the country under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP),” he said, adding that in Punjab at least three such parks, at Barnala, Nawanshahr and Ludhiana, would be set up with an investment of Rs 1,404 crore.
He said the Cotton Corporation of India has procured 9.6 lakh cotton bales from Punjab and rationalisation of fiscal duties undertaken during the last four-and-a-half year has provided a level playing field in all segments of the industry. The minister said textile sector has witnessed a spurt in investment during the past over four years. “This enhanced investment will generate 17.37 million jobs by 2012,” he said.
January 23rd, 2009
The government has declared two stimulus packages in the last few weeks to boost exports and to tackle the global economic crisis, but a sense of euphoria seems to be missing in the exporter’s community.
The apparel export industry in particular does not seem to be so happy with the announcements. All the apex apparel associations aver that, apparel exports will fall short of a wide margin of the targeted US $11.6 billion in the current fiscal year (2008-09).
Reacting to the announcement of the second stimulus package, the Chairman, Mr Rakesh Vaid, of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), which has more than 6,000 member companies on its rolls said, “The government has done very little to help the $10 billion apparel export sector which employs nearly 3.9 million workers. Lakhs of workers have lost work due to global economic recession.”
“We are in consultation with officials and hope the government will come up with concrete measures soon to revive the textile and readymade garments industry,” he added by saying. Against the set target of $11.6 billion, the apex body of apparel exporters does not expect to cross $8.78 billion in the current fiscal year, compared to $9.69 billion achieved in the previous fiscal year (2007-08).
In response to the first package declared in December, Mr Vaid had said, “We were expecting an increase in duty drawback rates, but there is no mention of it in the package. We have also been demanding income tax exemption for five years to offset the huge losses piling up, but there has been no response.”
Mr Vaid said that the allocation of Rs 1,400 Crore for textile up-gradation fund is what the government owes to the industry. “The allocation which has been pending for many years is for payment of arrears. There is nothing new in it”, he added by saying. On two per cent interest subvention for exporters up to March 2009, Mr Vaid said the move will benefit the sector marginally”
The President of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), Mr Rahul Mehta gravely said, “The $35 billion Indian apparel industry remains in severe crisis zone as there is nothing to stimulate production in the domestic segment and inadequate incentives in the export sector. The reforms package announced by the government offers no incentives for revival of the apparel industry facing mounting costs, shrinking local and global markets thereby compelling cut in production and employment.”
He vehemently said, “In contrast, China has increased its export incentives three times in the last six months, raising them from 11 to 17 percent and Pakistan too has announced a R&D rebate of 6 percent besides a 2.5 percent cut in interest rates.” Mr Mehta lamented by saying that, “armed with higher export rebates and incentives, countries like China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh would continue to edge out Indian exporters.”
The reaction of the President of Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), Mr Sakthivel to the second package was more vehement. He said he was totally disappointed with the second stimulus package and unfortunately the government had not considered requisitions put forth by TEA like, five year income tax holiday, two years moratorium on term loans, exemption from payment of all service and fringe benefit taxes to the apparel exporters.
Among other demands he said the government had not considered increasing duty drawback rate to 12 percent for cotton knitwear garments and provide 7 percent packing credit or in lieu increase interest subvention by 2 percent and increase the total interest subvention to 4 percent.
Source: www.fibre2fashion.com
January 23rd, 2009
Daily Times, Pakistan
‘Economic recession likely if govt does not solve issues’
KARACHI: The country could witness a severe economic recession if the government does not pay immediate attention to the problems faced by the textile industry.
Much desperate businessmen from the textile sector expressed these views in a meeting with Federal Minister for Textile Industry Rana Muhammad Farooq Saeed Khan at KCCI on Thursday.
Further elaborating the economic recession, which the country might face, they said loss of $10 billion of foreign earnings, loss of over 10 million jobs in which almost 10 percent would be female workers, loss of billions of rupees in revenue to the government exchequer in the form of taxes and closure of the banks because of default.
The federal minister said that the government is mulling to cope with the problems of the textile sector, but the situation being faced by the sector was created by the previous textile ministry as, the previous minister belonging from textile sector, did not do any development work in this sector.
He said that the textile sector has played an important role in the economy of the country and if the textile sector faced problems it would ultimately hurt the country’s economy. staff report
January 23rd, 2009
The News International, Pakistan
Friday, January 23, 2009
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Leather garment exports fell by 47 per cent during December 2008 compared to the same period of 2007, marking one of the largest falls in the exports of value added products.
Exports of leather garments were increasing till October last year, but as off November, witnessed a downtrend due to global recession, said Fawad Ijaz Khan, Chairman Pakistan Leather Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PLGMEA), in a statement on Thursday.
Many leather garment factories were facing closure, which would cause a loss of thousands of jobs. Foreign buyers returned to China and India, casting a negative impact on exports from Pakistan, he added.
Since December 2008, the Chinese and Indian governments had been offering incentives to their exporters to lower their costs in the present crisis and attract foreign buyers. He urged the government to announce a package for the revival of the leather garment industry.
January 23rd, 2009
Previous Posts