The minister for agriculture, Matia Chowdhury on Sunday said that the country will start farming Bt cotton (genetically modified variety of cotton) from next year. ‘The government will continue its efforts to continue cultivating other genetically modified crops in the country,’ she told a seminar on ‘Bio-technology’ held at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council at Farm-gate in the city this morning. She said there is no alternative to start producing GM crops for making the country self-

The country’s apparel export to the United States fell by 2.29 per cent to $4.83 billion in 2014 from $4.94 billion in 2013 amid increase in competitive edge of Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka. Experts and exporters said the US buyers shifted orders from Bangladeshi factories that run business on shared buildings due to compliance issue. On the other hand, Bangladesh’s competitor countries gained more space in the US market due to depreciation of their currencies against the US dollar. Viet

Sindh Balochistan Region of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, has said that Pakistan faces a grave threat of losing its market for its blended yarn at concessional rate from India and Far East. In a press statement, Tariq Saud said that Pakistan’s competitors like India and China have huge industrial base and they are producing all products in the chain, whereas we in Pakistan have the disadvantage of procuring most of our raw materials through imports. This not only reduces our capa

At the opening of the 20th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles Trade Show, on Wednesday, Italian fabrics have shown to be a driving force promoting general recovery, according to 2014 data on the sector presented at the show. The textile industry in 2014 started growing again in recession-battered Italy, posting 3.8% production gains with revenues exceeding eight billion euros, according to the Sistema Moda Italia research center. The result was made possible thanks due to the gr

Leading the way for digital innovation within the fashion industry once more, luxury fashion house Burberry has announced the launch of a new global partnership with Line, mobile app corporation, to offer the live stream of its upcoming Prorsum Women's Wear show directly from London exclusively to Line users in Japan. The heritage label aims to use the real time technology to bring its users closer to Burberry, as part of it new strategic plan in the country, which includes to replacing the b

More than 14 million seed cotton (phutti) bales reached ginneries across Pakistan as of Feb 1, posting a 10.19 per cent increase compared to the same period of last year. Out of total arrivals of 14,436,202 bales, 14.34m bales have undergone the ginning process, said a fortnightly report issued by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Tuesday. Arrivals in Punjab were recorded at 10.5m bales, around 12pc higher than last year. Arrivals in Sindh were recorded at 3.93m bales, a surge

Japan yesterday expressed its intent to further relax the rules of origin for Bangladeshi knitwear exports to the Asian giant. Rules of origin are the criteria used to determine the national source of a product to identify the goods that qualify for lower or nil customs duty. The modalities and other formalities in this regard are being worked out, said the foreign ministry yesterday following a high-level meeting between the two countries in Dhaka. Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque

LC Waikiki, Turkey based clothing firm that operates in over 20 countries across the globe, has expressed its interest to invest in Kenyan textile and apparel sector as it offers a world class investment location with competitive advantage to boost Nairobi’s efforts to grow the textile and apparel sector. The company is in discussion with leading shopping malls, namely, The Junction, Two Rivers and Garden City, in a bid to acquire retail shops. Kenya is on the charm offensive to win big in th

The international business news is once again dominated by Chinese companies' overseas investment and expansion plans. Chinese textiles group Ningbo Shantex Co Ltd which manufactures and exports textile accessories likely to make a takeover bid for United Kingdom-based apparel chain Phase Eight. Shantex is already in preliminary talks with Towerbrook, a private equity company that bought Phase Eight in 2011. Phase Eight was established in 1979 by Patsy Seddon in London to offer fashionable cl

Improved demand since a couple of days has resulted in better cotton prices as mills picked up their ready requirements of lint from the market. Both seed cotton (Kapas / Phutti) and lint prices increased at midweek following some recent rains in the cotton belt and a slightly lower production estimate of the current crop (August 2014 / July 2015). Seed cotton prices in Sindh reportedly ranged from Rs 1700 to Rs 2300 per 40 Kgs, while in the Punjab they are said to have prevailed from Rs 1900 t