Ecco, a Danish shoe manufacturing company, has established its first factory in China where the cost of production is far lower than that in Denmark, following several others, to survive competition. But, only if the production cost is less, has been the motto for Eccco and the likes.The company now fears anti?umping duties will affect their profitability in big way as EU may impose extra duties on cheap shoes imported from China and Vietnam. Duties may be go up as high as 60 percent from a low

Australia is facing a steep decline in wool output as all states except those in Western Australia experienced a slump. Yet, the experts consider it to be in a state of flux as Australia seems to have recovered a great deal, and is trying to return its wool production to normalacy. The estimated output of 467 million kilos this financial year signifies efforts infused to step up production.The Production Forecasting Committee says that though some have shifted to prime lamb production, Australia

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced the retail sales of London for November 2005.Retail sales in Central London during November were 2.1 percent higher, on a like-for-like basis, than in November 2004, when sales had picked up 1.4 percent. November's result was the first increase since June, before the July bombings. Nevertheless, the average monthly change so far this year is a 1.7 percent decrease, much worse than the 2.6 percent increase for the same months of 2004. The three-month

Turkey's apparel and textile exports slumped in October reflecting a general problem in industrial underperformance. Big earning categories such as non-knit apparel and made-ups brought in less revenue than the same month last year. Turkish producers are looking for favourable business conditions elsewhere. The value of Turkish apparel and textile exports slid 3.6 per cent in the month of October, according to data from the TIM Exporters' Union. Under performing Fibre and textile shipments f

Argentine cotton exports amounted to 22,606 bales against 4781 bales imports in October. The figures indicate slow trade movements in the industry.For the first time since 2001, Argentina has remained a net exporter of cotton through October.From January to October, exports reached 117,381 bales, recording a year-on-year increase of 213.6 percent.Chile, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam were leading export destinations. From January to October, imports reached 58,183 bales, which reflect 47.7 percent

India should aim to triple its garment exports to 18 billion US dollars by 2010 by empowering thehandicrafts industry that brings in the bulk of the earnings, Indian President A.P.J Abdul Kalam said here Monday. India currently exports 6 billion US dollars worth of garments,"whereas with the WTO (World Trade Organization) regime in place, we should aim to enhance exports to over 18 billion US dollars by 2010," Indo-Asian News Service quoted Kalam, in his address while presenting national award

The textile and garment export target for the year seems unattainable in light of the performance in the first 11 months, a top industry official has admitted. Le Quoc An, chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Garment Association, said with just less than a month to go for the year-end the original target of US$5.2 ?5.4 billion seemed out of reach and the revised estimate was $4.8 billion. He said by November? end, exports were only worth $4.32 billion including $1.6 billion through export quot

China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles has released the bid result of export quotas on 21 categories of textiles to the United States next year. Those members of the chamber of commerce can find the result from its Website. Last week, 28,296 qualified textile enterprises in China joined the bidding for export quotas on 21 categories of textiles to the US next year. The competition is very heated due to a half-year block on some kinds of products to the US, insiders sai

Washington - Viet Nam and the US have decided to further extend their bilateral garment and textile agreement until Dec. 31, 2006. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed in Washington on Dec. 9 by Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Tam Chien and David Spooner, Special Textile Negotiator of the US Trade Representative. Under the MoU, the extended agreement will take effect from the signing date through Dec. 31, 2006, unless Viet Nam becomes a member of the World Trade Orga

The International Business Daily based its forecast on customs figures from the year so far, noting that China? exports of textile products in October exceeded $10 billion despite increased export taxes, the yuan appreciation and transportation bottlenecks. "The stable external demand and production growth maintained a sustainable increase of China? exports of textile garment products. By inference, China? annual exports of textile garments this year are expected to be more than $115 billion,"