Government last week announced several austerity measures meant to resuscitate the economy which include new levies and taxes on imported groceries, fertilizer and a ban on the importation of second-hand clothes. Following Government's directive to ban all second-hand clothes on the local market, Zimbabwe Clothing and textile manufacturers are eying 100 percent capacity utilization by 2020. Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the company by the Office of the President and Cabinet, Zimbabwe

The European Union and Vietnam reached a free trade agreement on Tuesday, the EU’s second in Southeast Asia, paving the way for deep cuts in tariffs on almost all goods between their markets. The agreement in principle may take several years to be implemented. A legal text should be completed later this year, after which it must be ratified by the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament. Free trade with the EU would be a boon for Vietnam, a fast-growing, export-led economy set to

All GSP eligible merchandise including textiles will benefit from the US government's announcement of extending the benefit under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to developing countries. In a notice issued on 28 July, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that it will “again accept claims for GSP duty-free treatment for merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption and that CBP will process refunds on duties paid, without interest, on GSP-eligible mer

The glut in the global cotton stocks is expected to continue in 2015-16, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). In 2014-15, world ending stocks are estimated to have risen by 9 per cent to 22 million tonne, reflecting a stock-to-use ratio of 90 per cent, the ICAC said in a press release. From 2010-11 to the end of 2014-15, the world has accumulated 13.4 million tonnes of stock due to production exceeding consumption. In 2015-16, stocks are projected to decrease 5 per cent to

In China, manufacturing wages adjusted for productivity have almost tripled over the last decade, to an estimated $12.47 an hour last year from $4.35 an hour in 2004. China’s surging labor and energy costs are weakening its competitiveness in manufacturing, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Boston Consulting has estimated that for every $1 required to manufacture in the United States, it costs 96 cents to manufacture in China. Yarn production costs in China are now 30 percent higher t

The committee, formed to settle the Swan Garment crisis, sought Tk1.39 crore as loan or help under Corporate Social Responsibility programmes from Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd to pay at least one month wage of the workers. A letter was sent to the bank authorities seeking the amount as per the decision made at the second meeting of the committee yesterday. Swan Garments mortgaged its properties to Islami Bank. It owed Tk42 crore to the bank. The government formed the committee to find sol

All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association chairman S.M. Tanveer on Tuesday announced to defer the Aug 7 strike for a month following an assurance by the finance minister that the issues pertaining to surcharge in electricity bills, innovative taxes and the Gas Infrastructure Develop-ment Cess (GIDC) will be resolved by Aug 31. The resolution of the issues will ease a burden of Rs175 billion on the sector annually. “We will call another general body meeting on Sept 4 to decide about our strat

There seems to be no respite in backward drive in cotton prices on Tuesday as phutti (seed-cotton) with higher moisture content continues to arrive into ginneries, coupled with sluggish off-take of cotton yarn which depresses the market. Floor brokers said that heavy rains and floods causing devastation in both Sindh and Punjab though they did not inflict major damage to standing cotton crop, higher moisture content has badly affected phutti quality. Moreover, slow-off take of cotton yarn

In January-June period of this year, China's exports of textiles (textile yarn, fabric and made-up goods) and garment dropped slightly by 3.08% to US$ 128.38 billion, showing a narrowed decline. The export of textiles stood at US$ 52.91 billion, down 0.7% from a year earlier; and the export of garment amounted to near US$ 75.47 billion, down 4.7%. The import of textiles dropped 5.2% from a year earlier to US$ 9.66 billion during the same period. In June, the export and import of textiles

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it will to work closely with National Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Policy Committee to promote Made-in-Nigeria products. “This will also encourage the resuscitation and restoration of Nigerian textiles industries in the country,” NIPC informed in a press release. Uju Aisha Hassan Baba, executive secretary of NIPC said, “NIPC is not only promoting foreign direct investment (FDI), but also encouraging local investment, as they too