Sri Lanka and China will hold high level discussions in June on the possibility of signing a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Sri Lanka's Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement here on Monday. "China is a promising market for Sri Lanka's select, premium products such as gems, and an important round of bilateral talks on Sri Lanka-China FTA is scheduled for next month," the statement quoted Rishard Bathiudeen, minister of Industry and Commerce, as saying. The minister sa

The Shanghai International Cotton Trading Center officially opened at a ceremony in Shanghai on March 28. The center received 100 million yuan ($154,500) of investment from Shanghai Textile Group and will cooperate with its domestic and foreign counterparts to promote itself. As one of the eight commodity markets in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the center will ensure the safety of capital and goods, improve transactional efficiency and mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises to parti

As Bangladesh lags behind Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia in competitiveness, a rise in Chinese apparel prices would offer more benefits to the Southeast Asian countries, according to a World Bank report released on Monday. According to the report, a 10 per cent increase in Chinese apparel prices would raise the Southeast Asian countries’ export to the US by 37-51 per cent, while the export of South Asian countries would grow by 13-25 per cent (depending on the country) due to barriers to imp

Readymade garment sector has called upon the National Board of Revenue to reduce tax at source to 0.3% from existing 0.6% on export of apparel products. It also requested the NBR to consider it to be the final settlement from the budget for fiscal year 2016-17. Representatives from Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), Bangladesh Jute Goods Exporters Association an

Denim fabrics and products in Bangladesh have embodied constant evolution over the years with the blessings of latest technology and innovative designs, industry people said. They made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo in the capital yesterday. Denim Experts Limited is hosting the event. “We believe that denim fabrics and denim products are under constant evolution because of strong technological influence and the new generation’s choice to change denim

Gujarat's textile policy, announced in 2012, has so far attracted investment commitment worth Rs 9,208 crore through varied units such as weaving, made-ups, processing, spinning, ginning and technical textiles. The plan is to attract Rs 20,000 crore investment and 2.5 million new jobs by 2017. Under the policy, 549 textile units have got approval. The latest nod is for a textile and apparel park coming up in Surat. This park will come up on 62 acres, house 42 manufacturing units and generate

China's cotton futures extended a rally on Thursday as speculative buying pushed prices to the highest in more than a year in anticipation of tight supplies after Beijing delayed sales from its state cotton reserves, traders said. The most-active September 2016 contract at the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange was traded up by more than 6 percent to an intra-day high of 13,425 yuan ($2,073.23) per tonne, the highest since September 2014. The price has jumped about a quarter so far this month, out

Pakistan textile exports to the European Union increased from 545,698 metric tonnes in 2013 to 662,475 metric tonnes in 2015, a 21.3 percent increase. On the other hand, exports from the country during March 2016 witnessed negative growth of 9.55 percent and reached to $1.742 billion compared to the exports of 1.926 billion in March 2015. In 2015, among the textile productions, the exports of textile garments increased from 137,399 metric tonnes to 179,901 metric tonnes in 2015, showing an i

America's National Cotton Council (NCC) has challenged the findings of a Turkish anti-dumping probe that has led to a three per cent CIF (cost, insurance and freight) duty imposed on all US cotton fibre imports into Turkey, effective immediately. On April 16, 2016, the Turkish government released its final decision on its anti-dumping investigation of US cotton. Turkey is the second largest export market for US cotton with shipments ranging between 1.5 and 2.0 million bales. The duties aut

The Ministry of Trade and Industry confirmed that there is a plan to waive the 25 percent Customs duty on imported fabric, a move that is meant to boost the production of locally-made garments. But this could spell doom for Rwanda's only textile factory, L'usine Textile du Rwanda (Utexrwa) struggling to stay in business due to competition from imported fabrics. The mill, which opened in 1984, is also grappling with high production costs, making its fabric too expensive for ordinary Rwandans.