The country's apparel exports to Spain are expected to go up following improvements in factory conditions, Spanish Ambassador Luis Tejada said yesterday. After the Rana Plaza building collapse, the country has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade the garment industry, which will encourage Spanish clothing retailers to buy more from here, he said. "It is a good sign. Spanish retailers will not have to look beyond Bangladesh to procure apparel," he said, while citing the case of Vintage

Raw jute prices shot up in the last two months in spite of sluggish exports. At present, raw jute is trading at Tk 1,600-1,800 a maund (40 kilogram) in producing regions, which is 13 percent higher than last year. This has put pressure on public and private mills, already under pressure for shrinking export receipts. The reason for the escalating prices was heightened speculation that production would fall much below last year's level, according to Prabir Saha, a trader in Faridpur, one of

WUZHEN is a picturesque watertown in Zhejiang Province much like the others in the region except for one thing — it is famous for dyed textiles that resemble batiks. Known as lan yin hua bu (蓝印花布), many tourists come specifically to buy indigo tablecloths, scarves, quilt covers, cushions, curtains and more. The Tong Feng Yu workshop has produced handmade lan yin hua bu for hundreds of years and continues using the same techniques today. Producers now create e

The government is going to finalise new textile policy with the aim of raising local textile production from the existing 7,000 million mitres to 14,036 million mitres of fabrics by 2019-20. Currently, country’s textile sector meets 62 per cent of the local demand for fabrics — 11,400 million mitres — a year. Earlier, the government had taken several moves to update the textile policy in line with the changed global scenario but the attempts were not successful. The present textile polic

With China and Bangladesh becoming costlier and unviable day-by-day, India is gradually garnering its share in apparel exports to the US. India saw a rise in apparel exports to the US by 7.5% at 745 million square metres equivalent (msme) for the period January-September 2014 over the corresponding period last year, as per the latest data by the US Department of Commerce's Office of Textile and Apparel (OTEXA). As against this, China and Bangladesh posted 3.9% and -4.63% growth in apparel

Exporters have complained of 'inordinate' delays in sales tax refund by the tax office, saying that the Textile Ministry failed to honour its pledge to clear the refund claims of textile sector. Exporters demanded of the government to abolish the two percent sales tax regime for textile sector with a view to improve its finances for a better export prospects. "All the deferred claims of refunds should be cleared immediately," Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum, Javed Bilwani demanded. He sugges

Cotton prices on Wednesday remained easy amid extremely slow trading against the backdrop of higher arrivals of phutti (seed cotton) and depressed prices in most markets world over. The buyers took to the sidelines after knowing that phutti arrivals during the outgoing fortnight (Oct 15 to Nov 1) rose 10 per cent compared with same period a year ago. This strongly indicated that current season would yield a bumper crop, brokers said. Besides, increased flow of cotton yarn from across t

Adidas, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, said Thursday that profits were down in the third quarter due in part to exchange rate effects, but it is sticking to its full-year targets. Adidas said in a statement that its net profit fell by 11 percent to 282 million euros ($352 million) in the period from July to September. Underlying or operating profit fell by 12.7 percent to 405 million euros while sales grew by 6.2 percent to 4.118 billion euros. "During the third quarter o

The immediate future of Swaziland’s duty-free export market to the United States (US) through the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is hanging by a thread as Swaziland will be struck off the beneficiaries of AGOA late December, if it fails to meet the benchmarks. Varying stakeholders from the textile and apparel industry in the country have sent an impassioned request to United States President Barak Obama, to at least give Swaziland a few months more to sort the benchmarks hurdle tha

Despite a drop in Europe, global yarn output rose in the second quarter of 2104 from its previous quarter, due to higher yarn production in Asia, South and North America. “On an annualised basis, yarn production increased, only as a result of higher output in Asia with South America, North America and Europe recording reductions,” the latest report of the International Textile Machinery Federation (ITMF) reveals.Asia’s production is traditional significantly higher in the second quarter, compar