According to data from the Sri Lanka Apparel Joint Association Forum, affected by weak global demand, the country’s garment exports in January 2026 fell slightly by 2.66% year-on-year to US$425.44 million, mainly due to lower shipments to the United States and the European Union. However, the UK market delivered a strong performance: supported by the revised Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), Sri Lanka’s garment exports to the UK remained stable and recorded a modest increas

On February 24, 2026, the National Cotton Council (NCC), leading a broad bipartisan coalition of numerous national retailers and industry stakeholders, sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives urging lawmakers to jointly support the Buy American Cotton Act (H.R. 7230). The bill was introduced by Republican Representative Greg Murphy of North Carolina and Democratic Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama. NCC Chairman Nathan Reed emphasized that the strong list of co-signatories refle

On February 26, 2026, the 3rd Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies (VIATT) officially opened at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City. The fair was jointly organized by the Trade Promotion Agency under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade and Messe Frankfurt, and runs through February 28. On its opening day, the event demonstrated strong regional appeal. The scale of this year's VIATT has significantly expanded, wi

On Thursday, February 26, Bahia completed its 2025/26 cotton planting on Wednesday. Compared to the previous crop year, the planted area remained stable at approximately 414,000 hectares. Preliminary estimates indicate that processed cotton production will reach 815,000 tons. The expected cotton yield per hectare is 1,968 kilograms. Compared to the previous week, the area under irrigated cotton cultivation has grown by nearly 20%, and this technology now accounts for 40.7% of the state's planted

According to the press service of the President of Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced at a recent meeting reviewing the agricultural mechanization development program that the country plans to increase the proportion of mechanized cotton harvesting from the current 52% to70% by 2026, aiming to further reduce manual labor in agricultural production. To achieve this goal, Uzbekistan plans to significantly expand its agricultural machinery fleet this year. According to the plan,th

Just as the U.S. government's measure to impose a 10% import tariff on global goods under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 took effect on February 24, U.S. President Trump announced the next day an increase of the rate to 15%. This sharp policy reversal within just 48 hours has plunged global trading partners into deep confusion. The trigger for this tariff policy chaos was a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on February 20. The Court determined that the previous large-scale tariffs imposed

On February 9, 2026, the European Commission formally adopted two implementing acts in Brussels, pursuant to the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), completely banning the destruction of unsold clothing, accessories, and footwear. This landmark legislation marks the EU's transition from "encouraging sustainability" to "mandating sustainability," and the practice of incinerating excess inventory in the textile industry will become history in the EU market. The introduction of th

Driven by strong export sales data and a weaker U.S. dollar, the ICE cotton market over the past week displayed an overall trend of rising first and then falling, with the main contract price hitting a three-week high at one point. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) weekly export sales report, released on Friday, showed that net U.S. cotton export sales for the current marketing year totaled 466,300 running bales for the week ending February 12. This marked a sharp increase of 102% from

In 2025, China's printing and dyeing industry demonstrated strong resilience, underpinned by its deep industrial foundation, while navigating a complex and volatile external market environment and mounting internal transformation pressures. Core business operations remained largely stable, yet the industry's overall profitability and operational quality faced unprecedented challenges. A comprehensive review of the year's economic data reveals distinct characteristics: "stable but slight growth i

On February 24, 2026, India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) formally signed a joint statement in New Delhi, announcing the launch of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, marking a new phase in bilateral economic cooperation. The document was jointly signed by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, and GCC Secretary-General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi. The initiation of these negotiations builds upon the "Terms of Reference" (ToR) signed on February 5, which defined th