MAS Fabric Park at Thulhiriya will get a apparel and footwear manufacturing facility and it was expected to be operational before the end of 2013. This is a joint venture project between MAS Group and NIKE. Around 200 people will be employed at the initial operational stage of the factory. MAS Fabric Park spreads across 165 hectares and seven business entities are currently housed at the MAS Fabric Park and MAS Group and NIKE joint venture project will be the latest business entity to be housed

Several domestic and foreign apparel retail firms are further strengthening their expansion in Chinese lower-tier cities, in the midst of intensified competition in the first-tier cities, according to a latest report. The lower-tier cities in China are turning into major battlefields for many apparel firms, says a report on “China’s apparel market, 2012”, released by Li & Fung Research Centre. The fact that people in the lower-tier cities are getting wealthier and are having stronger s

Dr. Jane Dever, associate professor-cotton breeder for Texas AgriLife Research in Lubbock, is the recipient of the 2012 Cotton Genetics Research Award. The announcement was made on January 10 during the 2013 Beltwide Cotton Improvement Conference, which convened as part of the National Cotton Council-coordinated 2013 Beltwide Cotton Conferences. In recognition, she received a plaque and a monetary award. Dr. Dever has been in her present post since 2008 where her major research focus inclu

Spot futures are still gravitating towards the 75 cents level and for the past eight sessions the March contract has settled within a very narrow band of less than 100 points, between 74.79 and 75.71 cents/lb. There have been a few intraday spikes up and down, but last Friday’s selloff below 74 cents found ready buyers, while attempts to propel the market beyond the crucial 78 cents resistance area have so far lacked the necessary momentum. The current level of NY futures actually makes s

Some 30% of small and medium industries (SMIs) in the country will not increase the salary of employees earning a basic pay of RM900 and above this year to minimise the impact of the minimum wage policy, which came into force on Jan 1, Sin Chew Daily reported yesterday. It said 70% of these SMIs are in the manufacturing sector. According to a survey conducted by SMI Association of Malaysia, for the rest of SMIs planning to increase the pay of their workers across the board, about 60% will

China Textile City Fabric Market (2013-01-11)Unit: yuan/m Collector: Jiang Jianren Item WidthCM Specification/Weight（meter） Wholesale Price：yuan/meter Wool/Viscose gird cloth 150 560 25．50 Wool/viscose cloth 150 520 27．50 Cotton Pad-dyed Drill 150 16S×12S 108×56 15．30 T/R single-thread yarn dyed seven-color checked woolen cloth 150 500 16．00 Wool/Viscose mix-colored s

The developments in Chinese cotton policy that has the rest of the world worrying about cotton prices, and for the moment these concerns appear to have put a floor under cotton prices. Unless the pace of China’s cotton purchases slows, cotton availability outside China could well be tight in the run up to the next harvest. And then thoughts turn to the harvest after that, 2013/14. Although still very speculative since no planting has taken place, price differentials with other crops suggest glob

n Europe, initial benzene contract price for January has been agreed up Euro 69 a ton from the previous month. Benzene prices are expected to remain bullish in Europe and rise higher in the US. Market experts predict that Benzene prices may remain high this year in the US as well due to tight supply conditions. Prices witnessed a 4% increase in the US market in December 2012 as compared to its previous month. Caprolactum prices in January are likely to inch up in the European markets after jum

Japan’s JX Nippon Oil and Energy sought to nominate January Asian contract price for benzene at US$1,550 a ton, up US$120 from December. Since September, crude oil prices have fallen by 4%, causing naphtha prices to decline 4-12%. Concurrently benzene prices have increased 6-21%, leaving producers with a gross margin of about 35-55%. While such margins are common in speciality products, they are not common in bulk petrochemicals and are usually corrected by market forces. This can start happenin