Bangladesh’s earnings from the readymade garment exports to 11 European Union countries declined in the first half of the current financial year 2015-16 compared with that in the same period of last financial year due to a devaluation of the euro against the US dollar. Export Promotion Bureau data showed that the earnings from 27-country EU block in the July-December period of the FY16 grew by 7.34 per cent to $7.83 billion from $7.30 billion in the same period of FY15. Exporters said th

The country’s garment accessories and packaging manufacturers have sought policy support from the government to achieve its US$12bn export target by 2021. “We have set export target of $12bn by 2018 from the accessories, which needs government policy support,” Rafez Alam Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) told the reporters at a press conference held in the capital yesterday. Alam was addressing a press con

CHINA’S economic data for December may show gross domestic product growth stabilized at 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 but it’s premature to say China’s economy has bottomed out, analysts said ahead of the data release today. “The economy stabilized due to recent growth support policies trickling through and growth in property sales,” said Wang Tao, a UBS economist. Lian Ping, chief economist at the Bank of Communications, said almost all activity data may improve in December ex

The government yesterday temporarily reopened raw jute export in order to clear pending export orders which amount to around 277,000 bales. According to jute ministry, a number of 251 letters of credit (LC) have been pending since November 3, 2015 and the decision to lift the bar on export is only to clear the pending LCs. The decision was taken following request from exporters. “No new LC to export raw jute can be opened as per the dicision,” said Muhammad Kefayetulla, director of the Dep

Textile mills in north and south India are crying foul over increased adulteration in cotton procured from Gujarat. Cotton farmers are holding on to raw cotton waiting for better prices. This has resulted in a price disparity between raw cotton made available to ginners and finished cotton produced by ginners. Ginners are mixing lower quality cotton with higher quality cotton to reduce their losses. Mills and traders buying cotton from Gujarat said the usual rate of adulteration of 10-15 p

Sustained buying from spinners helped cotton prices stay firm on Friday. However, much of the trading activity remained around quality lint which was running in short supply. Floor brokers said that slowdown in textile industry across the globe, coupled with internal factors, such as financial crisis facing the industry and high cost of doing business, depressed demand for cotton. Moreover, import of huge quantity of cotton by big spinning groups is also dampening demand for local cotton.

Weak growth among major emerging markets will weigh on global growth in 2016, but economic activity should still pick up modestly to a 2.9 per cent pace, from 2.4 per cent growth in 2015, as advanced economies gain speed, according to the World Bank's January 2016 Global Economic Prospects. Simultaneous weakness in most major emerging markets is a concern for achieving the goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity because those countries have been powerful contributors to global growth

China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 11.2% year-on-year to CNY 2.79 trillion (US$ 434 billion) in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The retail sales of garment, foot & head gear and knitted goods rose 9.9% year-on-year in November to CNY 138.2 billion, and it rose 10.1% year-on-year to over CNY 1.19 trillion in January-November. In the first eleven months, online sales surged by 34.5% year-on-year to CNY 3.45 trillion, accounting for 12.6% in gros

China’s exports of textiles and garment dropped 5.79% year-on-year in January-November to near US$ 256.95 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). China’s exports of textile yarn, fabric and made-up products amounted to US$ about 8.67 billion in November and totaled US$ 99.72 billion in January-November, down 2.6% from a year earlier. The exports of garment and accessories amounted to US$ 13.31 billion in November and US$ 157.23 billion in January-November, down 7.7

Russia has imposed economic sanctions on some countries, and exporters in Pakistan should utilise this opportunity to supply more textile products to Russian markets, said Yury M Kozlov, trade representative of the Russian Federation while addressing businessmen at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) recently, as per Pakistani media reports. Kozlov said that after the signing of the $2 billion gas pipeline project from Karachi to Lahore, over 50 Russian companies are looking fo