Chinese textile firms showing keen interest to establish joint ventures with Pakistani companies, as China’s labour intensive industries were becoming uncompetitive due to high production cost, which is why they were shifting manufacturing to other locations and focusing on research, according Ahsan Iqbal, federal minister for planning, development and reform. The minister at a meeting with the members of the textile value-added sector, said that if they are able to have joint ventures with t

Pakistan's textile industry is finding it difficult to operate in the country after the government increased the import duty on raw cotton, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has said. The Aptma's reaction came after government recently increased the duty on import of raw cotton from two per cent to three per cent with additional duty of one per cent, making total import duty of four per cent. “It is not possible for the textile industry to continue to operate in these cond

Impressed by the smooth conduct of business in China's economic development zone of Jimo city, chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif said that facilities provided to the textile sector in Jimo would be replicated in the province. Sharif was on a visit to the economic development zone in Jimo, where he saw modern facilities available for investors in the textile and garments sector. He showed special interest in the one-window service centre and an international pavili

Diplomats of seven African countries have invited Coimbatore's trading and industrial community to invest in their countries, in different sectors including textiles. The diplomats were speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Industry (CII) in Coimbatore on “Africa Seminar Series – the Land of Unexplored Potential”. Two of them particularly highlighted the textiles and apparel sector where Indian companies can invest in their countries. Mali's ambassador, Niankoro Yeah Sama

Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has said Britain’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) last month has affected domestic garment-textile firms which export products to the European country. Vu Duc Giang told reporters on Monday that Brexit has caused difficulties to local apparel firms with huge export shipments to the UK market. This is different from what some experts said about Brexit. Brexit has also hit British firms in Vietnam as some of them are scal

Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), told a press conference in Hanoi last week that the sector posted export revenue of only US$12.76 billion in the first six months, growing 4.72% year-on-year but representing just 41% of the full-year target. Again, the growth was mainly driven by foreign direct investment (FDI) firms while domestic peers struggled to find new orders in the period. VITAS forecast finding new orders would continue to be tough and

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has urged the European Union (EU) to terminate an old practice in anti-dumping investigations of Chinese products by the end of this year. The "surrogate system" adopted by the EU is set to expire in December, according to a protocol of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on China's accession 15 years ago, an MOC statement said on Thursday. All WTO members should abide by the protocol, regardless of their domestic standards or any other issues, including i

Nearly 800 readymade garment factories have been closed down for various reasons, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has said. “Of them, production at 39 factories were totally stopped while production at 42 other factories were partially suspended due to their failure to ensure safety of the workers,” he told the Parliament on Monday. Tofail said there were 5,190 RMG factories in the country. “Of them 4,834 are export oriented.” The 2013 Rana Plaza disaster that killed over 1,100 RMG worke

India’s cotton output is likely to decline 12.4 per cent to hit the lowest in five years for the current crop year (October 2015–September 2016), due to crop damage in major producing states. On Wednesday, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) under the Union lowered the forecast it had made in February, saying the picture was now clearer. Output is now estimated at 33.8 million bales (a bale is 170 kg) for the current crop year, as against 38.6 mn bales the previous year (when drought had hit many

China's ministry of commerce (MOFCOM) has announced imposition of anti-dumping duties on acrylic fibres originating in Japan, South Korea and Turkey with effect from July 14, 2016. The anti-dumping duties would be levied on tariff numbers 55013000, 55033000 and 55063000. The rates to be levied on Japanese producers are: Japan Exlan Co – 16.1 per cent, Mitsubishi Rayon Co – 15.8 per cent, Toray Industries – 16.0 per cent, and other Japanese producers – 16.1 per cent. For acrylic fibre from