The newly-formed wage board for the garment workers has set Tk 5,300 as the minimum monthly wages. The minimum wage came at the ninth meeting of the wage board Monday afternoon. Apparel factory owners, however, rejected the minimum wage. A press briefing is underway at the board office, in the capital, regarding its announcement at around 4:00pm. Apparels workers have long been demonstrating, demanding Tk 8,000 as minimum wage for a labourer per month. Source: New Age BD.

Karl-Johan Persson talking to the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (c) 2013 H&M As a social responsible brand, H&M has been closely following the developments of the apparel industry in Cambodia. In mid-October 2013, H&M’s CEO Karl-Johan Persson met the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to particularly discuss the urgency of annual wages reviews and functioning industrial relations. During the visit he also met other stakeholders such as trade unions and UN body Better Factories

Workers at a Yangon garment factory have entered the second week of a strike called over the sacking of a colleague and the installation of CCTV cameras near a women’s toilet. The strike by about 200 workers at the ‘Handsome’ factory in Dagon Seikkan township began on October 26 after the sacking of their colleague,Sithu Min,who was reportedly accused by management of refusing to work overtime. Striking workers said he was sacked without sufficient reason and responded by sending a four-po

Cotton produce decreased in nine districts out of 21 cotton producing districts of the country, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association said on Sunday. According to a PCGA press release, the decrease from 4.62 to 37.30 per cent was noticed by November 1. A major decrease in cotton production was observed in Kasur district. Increase in cotton production from 4.67 to 125.59 per cent was also recorded in 12 districts. District Sangharr of Sindh remained at top by producing 1,288,383 cotton bales

The HinduSouthern India Mills’ Association expects consumption by textile mills to exceed 300 lakh bales this year. File photo. Cotton production this year (October 2013-September 2014) is expected to be 375 lakh bales, 10 lakh bales more than last year. At its first meeting for the season in Mumbai on Friday, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) estimated that heavy rains might have damaged nearly 10 lakh bales of cotton in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat this year.

Six workers of an illegal leather bag factory in central Delhi died and 12 were injured in a fire that broke out on Saturday evening. Four of the killed workers were women, of whom two were burnt beyond recognition. The other four were identified as Pooja, Rahul, Soni and Piyush. The incident was reported from the Shadipur Depot area around 5.45pm. Fire officials received a call from a person at the spot at 5.50pm, and sent seven fire tenders to the spot along with teams of firefighters. Witn

Vietnam will likely earn $20 billion from garment and textile export in 2013, surpassing the target of $19 billion set for the year by the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas). According to Vitas deputy chairman Pham Xuan Hong, despite many challenges in production and business, the textile and garment industry was one of two industries exceeding $10 billion in export value in the first 10 months of this year. Latest data released by the General Statistics Office on Friday showe

Textile and apparel companies are still struggling with the continuous hike in inventories even after two years of decreasing stock. As of Oct 31, 81 listed textile and apparel enterprises have announced inventory figures for the first three quarters, which totaled 76.8 billion yuan ($12.5 billion), registering a year-on-year growth of 6 percent. In the first three quarters, 14 out of 81 listed companies had stock worth more than 1 billion yuan. As many as 57 companies of the 81 compan

The retail sales of social commodities totaled CNY 2.06 trillion in September, up 13.3% (adjusted for price factor) and CNY 16.88 trillion in January-September of this year, up 12.9% year-on-year. In which, the retail sales of garment, foot & head gear and knitted goods totaled CNY 93.8 billion in September and CNY 791.3 billion in January-September, up 13.3% and 12.2% respectively. Source: China Textile Leader

President Xi Jinping on Saturday said China is confident of a sustainable and healthy economic growth and it will further the reform and opening up drive. Xi made the remarks as he met with a group of foreign members of the 21st Century Council in Beijing, where the global think-tank is holding a conference from Friday to Sunday focusing on the world's second largest economy. China is working to transform the mode of development and readjust its economic structure, Xi said, highlighting