FW
The Indian textile machinery industry grew 10 per cent from 2013 to 2014. It’s expected to reach Rs 35,000 crores by 2021. The textile machinery sector plays an increasingly vital part in shifting India’s textile and apparel industry from labor-intensive production to a more advanced and industrialized sector. Spinning machinery segment is expected to see the fastest growth over the next five years. Much of this segment’s growth can be attributed to expansion of spinning machinery. High demand for cotton exports and expansion of spinning machinery capacities will help India maintain high demand for spinning machinery over the next few years.
The Indian textile machinery industry has been experiencing tremendous growth over recent years, facilitated by the country’s booming textile and apparel market. India is expected to be a leading textile producing country in the world by 2020 and the domestic textile and apparel market in India is estimated to grow at 12 per cent CAGR over 2020. The technical textile market in India is also showing a promising growth, at 18 per cent CAGR. All this is believed to further boost demand for and output of textile machinery in India.
India’s apparel exports to the US grew 0.8 per cent y-o-y in March 2017. India is the fifth largest apparel exporter to the US. The growth in export value was solely on account of an increase in volumes. During the month, export volumes increased three per cent while export realisation fell 2.1 per cent.
Despite a growth in exports in March 2017, India’s share in the US apparel import market contracted by 30 basis points. It stood at 6.5 per cent during the month. For the year ended March 2017, India’s cumulative apparel exports to the US decreased 2.8 per cent. This was solely on account of a 3.6 per cent fall in export realization. Export quantity grew by a meager 0.9 per cent. Despite a fall in exports, India’s market share expanded by ten basis points to 4.5 per cent.
As for other top apparel exporting countries to the US, China recorded an increase of 5.7 per cent in its exports in March 2017. The country’s share in the US apparel import market expanded by 40 basis points to 23.7 per cent. Apparel exports by Vietnam and Indonesia grew 15.7 per cent and four per cent. Vietnam’s market share increased by 140 basis points to 13.9 per cent and that of Indonesia remain unchanged at seven per cent. Bangladesh reported a 6.5 per cent drop in exports in March 2017 while its market share dipped 90 basis points to 7.6 per cent.
Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week will be held in Ethiopia from October 3 to 6, 2017. Many international textile suppliers and buyers are expected to attend the third edition of the biggest textile trade fair in Africa. Nearly 250 international exhibitors from 25 countries are expected to be present.
A conference running parallel to the trade fair will discuss the themes currently dominating the textile industry. It will focus on becoming particularly relevant to more and more fashion buyers and present new approaches to eco fashion and sustainable solutions. The spotlight will be on various issues, including sustainability, with particular focus on production, environment and certifications. A fashion show, trend area and matchmaking platform are some of the other highlights.
International manufacturers of textile machines will also be showcasing new technologies for the African market. Italian textile machinery makers will present a range of product innovations. Designers will also get specific information targeted at them. Presentations by experts on international fashion designed in Africa and future forecast on women's, men's and children's apparels are lined up.
Three new trade fair brands Texworld Addis Ababa, Apparel Sourcing Addis Ababa and Texprocess Addis Ababa will be launched at Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week.
India may impose an anti-dumping duty on imports of acrylic fiber from the European Union, China, Belarus, Ukraine and Peru. There are evidences of dumping of acrylic fiber from these regions. Anti-dumping duties are levied to provide a level playing field to local industry by guarding against cheap below cost imports.
Countries dump products in India as it is one of the most attractive markets for global producers due to its large middle-class population. Imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the WTO regime. Both India and China are members of the Geneva-based body.
WTO does not regulate the actions of companies engaged in dumping. Instead, it focuses on how countries can or cannot react to dumping. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a- vis foreign producers and exporters.
An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market. To protect local businesses and markets, many countries impose stiff duties on products they believe are being dumped in their market.
Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat says from the past five years, the domestic textile products have continued to lose their foothold in competition on the domestic market. Imported products have held control of 70 per cent of the $10 billion market a year leaving only 30 per cent of the market for domestic products. In addition, clothing no longer appears a priority requirement for the people with motorcycles figuring higher in their priority.
The government needs to address the problem. Earlier, there government helped through (BLT) that could increase peoples' buying power. API also noted that 90 per cent of the basic material for readymade wear is imported like cloth from South Korea, China and Japan. However, API is optimistic that the country's textile industry would continue to grow as indicated by data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) which showed that the country's exports of textiles rose 3.8 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017.
Earlier, the industry ministry had said they would coordinate with the trade ministry to curb imports of textiles and textile products (TPT) to protect domestic industry. Director general of chemicals, textiles and multifarious industries Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono points out the government encourages development of upstream textile industry. The challenge faced by the company is that most of the country's textile factories especially weaving and knitting sector still use old machines, which are no longer competitive in efficiency. Exports of TPT grew only 2 per cent year-on-year to $2 billion in the first two months of 2017.
Vietnam feels garment and textile exports to Russia can grow manifold. At present, Vietnam’s apparel exports to Russia make up roughly two per cent of the country’s total exports. The figure is expected to reach ten per cent in the next few years. To begin with, Russia has a cold climate, so demand for jackets and jeans is high. Vietnam’s garment and textile exports to Russia have increased by over 30 per cent year-on-year.
The free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union came into force in October 2016. However, there are problems. Vietnam has to offer products at competitive prices since Russia still faces economic difficulties and sales of apparel in the market are not as strong as those in the European Union. Basically the Russian market has to be thoroughly explored. Regular contact has to be made with partners for long-term cooperation.
Vietnamese enterprises should have business strategies to cope with fierce competition on quality and price in the market. It is necessary to create high-quality products, improve designs, and build brand names. Additionally the geographical distance between Vietnam and Russia will make it difficult for businesses to complete payment. More bank branches in Russia will facilitate direct payment between businesses.
The Tirupur garments cluster has caught the attention of states such as Telangana and Odisha, which now plan to replicate some of the successes in their own state. Officials from Odisha textile handloom industries department recently visited Tirupur to have first-hand information and the cluster’s operations over the years.
The Odisha government, which came out with a dedicated apparel policy early this year, has not only sought the help of Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) in drawing up its strategy but also in setting up training and skill development institutes. Recently, the Odisha government had set up an apparel park near Bhubaneshwar and plans to have two more such parks in the state. On the other hand, Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao has taken a great deal of interest in creating such clusters in the state.
KT Rama Rao has met Union textiles minister Smriti Irani and sought her help in creating such clusters to capitalise on Telengana’s rich cotton crop cultivation. Cotton is the major commercial crop of Telengana and the state government has thrown in incentives under its textile policy to woo investments from garment units in Tirupur to set up similar units in the cotton-growing districts of Warangal, Karimnagar, Medak, Khammam.
Meanwhile officials of both the states have appealed to big garment units in Tirupur such as Dollar, Lux and Rupa to invest in their respective states.
Hong Kong-based Li and Fung a major outsourcing service provider mainly catering to major Western retailers and fashion brands such as Wal-Mart Stores and Macy' is planning to spend $150 million over the next three years to build an an online system for better efficiency in its services.
Li and Fung is a global supply chain manager primarily for US and EU brands, department stores, hypermarkets, specialty stores, catalogue-led companies, and ecommerce sites. Today, Li & Fung employs about 22,000 people worldwide. It does product design and development, raw materials and factory sourcing and capacity building, vendor compliance and distribution. It has over 250 offices in 40 markets. It works with 15,000 suppliers to service 8,000 customers.
The Hong Kong trading giant in the age of digitalization is striving to stop the steady decline of sales because of the growing trend between manufacturers and retailers. Li & Fung aims to create a system that halves the time needed for the process of planning, developing, manufacturing and delivering retailers' products, from about 40 weeks to 21 weeks by 2019.
The centerpiece of Fung's turnaround strategy is building a system that allows the entire process of planning and designing apparel products to be done over the internet. The system, which will have a 3-D virtual design feature, will allow corporate customers to view images of finished products and see production costs for various design options, such as using different buttons on a product.
Amid the erupting tensions between the US and China Li & Fung is considering forming a partnership with a Hollywood animated film studio to help upgrade and refine the system. The company is adapting to corporate clients' need to design and produce items more flexibly in response to fleeting fashion trends and capricious customers. But smaller suppliers cannot afford to adopt this strategy. But still the new system will enable customers to cut back on inventories and increase profitability.
China will be the next stop in Cividini's growth strategy. The men's and women's clothing brand, which was founded by Piero and Miriam Cividini in the late 1980s, generated 90 per cent of its €12 million turnover in 2016 from sales abroad.
Piero Cividini explains the company has made a deal with a local distributor, Singapore IFFG, to expand in the Far East over the next five years, with a network of ‘shop in shops' in some of China's most prestigious malls. The first store opened at the end of April in Shanghai, inside the Golden Eagle International Shopping Center. The day after a multi-brand IFF Gallery was inaugurated in Nanjing: 3,000 sq. mt. of space dedicated to high-end fashion, including Cividini's collections.
So far in 2017, the brand has shown signs of development, with a positive sales campaign: Piero Cividini, states that the orders for the fall winter 2017/18 season ended with a slight increase and the company is looking to end the year with a single-digit increase in sales. Cividini's main markets are Japan, where it has 20 shop-in-shops and 60 MBOs, and the United States, where they're present in 40 multi-brand boutiques.
The company from Gorle, near Bergamo, Italy, is present in 250 wholesale stores elsewhere throughout the world, in Italy, Europe, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. In order to reach their global clientele, the company enacted a development process that, according to the founder, the company has a great deal to do with the generational change and it is important to look for demographics that have different consumption habits.
Women make up the major share of Cividini's clientele, their menswear collection was launched only a few years ago and these clients appreciate the brand's quality and discreet elegance.
Twin Dragon, based in the US, has denim facilities in Mexico and Asia. By using pre-reduced indigo and adding eco-finishing processes, Twin Dragon has reduced chemical and water use compared with typical dyeing and finishing methods. The new processes have helped the company save water, minimize chemical use and speed up the garment production process.
The result is there has been an 85 per cent reduction in environmentally hazardous chemical discharge, which could become the new gold standard in the denim textile industry.
Using eco-finishing at the Twin Dragon mill in Mexico will result in an annual savings of 40 million gallons of water. By using pre-reduced liquid indigo, the company eliminates 700,000 pounds of sodium hydro sulphite from the process. Plus the new methods have improved the appearance of the final product. It has stabilized the shade of indigo, increased the color fastness in both dry and wet crocking, and the final denim product has a 3-D appearance.
Over the last decade, Twin Dragon has invested in several eco initiatives, including using eco-friendly fibers, such as Lenzing’s Tencel and Modal. The company has developed its own trademarked Forever Black process for black jeans, which reduces the environmental impact of the traditional black dye process.
