United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)and World Customs Organisation (WCO) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost customs modernisation by enabling interoperability between UNCTAD’s Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) programme and various WCO projects.Secretary-general Rebeca Grynspanand her WCO counterpart Kunio Mikuriya signed the agreement on October 4, updating the two organisations’ previous agreement from 2013, according to a press release by

China’s e-commerce logistics index in September 2022 has increased to 108.1 after a decline seen in August. The recent surge in the country’s e-commerce logistics index pushes it close to the 108.9 mark in February 2022, according to a joint survey by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) and e-commerce giant JD.com.Several logistics indexes have bounced back after a boost in business operations and market demand. “The rebound can be attributed to the steady recovery of househo

Cotton yarn prices continued to follow downtrend in south India. Tiruppur registered a drop of ₹30-40 per kg in cotton yarn as Tamil Nadu’s spinning mills slashed prices to align with cheaper cotton. Traders said that weavers’ demand improved slightly at lower prices. The prices of cotton yarn may further fall which may support trading activities.In Tiruppur market, cotton yarn lost ₹30-40 per kg as mills have reduced their selling prices in the beginning of this month. Mills are adjusting yarn

UK-based Worn Again Technologies has completed its latest funding round, raising £27.6 million to support the construction of an innovative textile recycling demonstration plant in Winterthur, Switzerland. The latest investment round brings the company’s total raised funding to £42.9 million, representing its most successful funding tranche since its founding.“We are extremely happy with the results of this funding round, which was our most successful so far. As such, it demonstrates the strengt

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is downgrading its global economic growth forecast, its managing director Kristalina Georgieva recently announced in an address to students in Washington, DC’s Georgetown University campus. “Overall, we expect global output as a result of all this [multiple shocks] to shrink between now and 26, 2026 by $4 trillion,” she said.IMF estimates that one third of countries around the world would experience, at least, two consecutive quarters of contraction this yea

Economic growth in China is expected to moderate to 3.3 per cent this year, amid restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and tepid consumer demand, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).China’s economy is forecast to grow 4.5 per cent in 2023, according to the recently released Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 Update.The COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on consumer confidence in China. External trade is projected to moderate in the second half of 2022, as de

China’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have maintained their recovery momentum with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index standing at 88.3 for August 2022, the same as for July 2022. The recovery has been attributed to government policies intended to stabilise the economy.The index comprises many sub-indexes, which are used for estimating the progress and projections of SMEs. The sub-index for the industry sector, that had declined in July, rose by 0.1 points in August.Th

Beijing welcomes the development of US enterprises in China and will continue to provide a market-oriented, internationalised and legalised business environment, according to state councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi, who recently said his country’s attitude of continuing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is certain.This was one of the five ‘certainties’ about China that Wang, who recently met representatives from the National Committee on US-China Relatio

Ethiopia, China, and Germany have pledged to increase their cooperation regarding the promotion of the social, labour, and environmental standards in the textile sector of Ethiopia. Representatives of the three countries endorsed their commitment towards the ‘Sustainable Textile Investment and Operation in Ethiopia’ project at a recent conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.The project, which is a collaboration between the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Deutsche Gesel

The COVID-19 pandemic has not been the major setback for global trade that many anticipated; rather international trade in goods has surged by as high as 10 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, even in the face of significant supply bottlenecks that constrained further growth, and trade growth is expected to dramatically accelerate in Sub-Saharan Africa, shows a new survey.New poles of trade growth are identified in Southeast and South Asia, according to the new DHL Trade Growth Atlas published b