Bangladesh's garment exports to American market will not be affected by the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a mega trade deal involving the US and 11 other Pacific Rim nations including Vietnam, its main competitor in apparel trade, an economist said. The reason being the country is performing well now even after paying a higher duty than Vietnam to the American market, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, a private think tank. At present, Bangladesh pa

The Chinese economy is healthy and has great potential for further development, a leading German economist has said. In the macroeconomic sense, the Chinese economy is still extremely healthy if one looks at the growth rate, inflation and balance payments, said Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, research professor of Economics Evolutionary sciences at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany, in a recent interview with Xinhua. He explained that the Chinese central bank has a lot of freedom to support

Egyptian cotton lauded for its soft texture and durability has been used to produce some of the world’s premium linen and clothing for over two centuries is presently facing a serious decline in its cotton production due to the ongoing political turmoil in Egypt. This rare type of cotton is essential to everyone but its producers, the Egyptian farmers are said to be placing less emphasis on a plant that is as important to the nation as tourist trips to the pyramids. The Egyptian farmers are c

The government is likely to reduce tax at source on export of all products by 0.20 percentage points to 0.80 per cent in the budget for the next fiscal year from the proposed 1 per cent, officials of the finance ministry said. Bowing down to pressure from the exporters, particularly from the readymade garment sector, the government has decided to reduce the export tax, they said. In the budget proposal before the parliament on June 4, finance minister AMA Muhith proposed an increase of e

Vietnam is now the fourth largest textile exporter in the world with 12.18 billion USD earned from these products in the first six months of this year, according to the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex). The figure represented a 10.26 percent increase from the same period last year. The US, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the European Union were the biggest importers of Vietnamese products, posting growth rates of 11.01 percent, 8.33 percent, and 8.2 percent, respective

Cambodia will begin to discuss the annual increase of monthly minimum wage for the garment and footwear industry for 2016 in July, according to a Labor Ministry' s statement issued late Friday. The talks will be carried out by a tripartite working group, which comprises representatives of the labor ministry, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), and the trade unions, the statement said. It added that the final result of the negotiations will be released in early October

The garment industry, which is reeling under severe cash crunch, has recovered Rs. 400 crore in last three months from retailers who had defaulted on payment due to weak demand. The Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India has formed a separate committee to negotiate with retailers and recover the dues. The Association has also formed a system to alert the members on the credit profile of buyers so that they do not fall prey to wilful defaulters. Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI, said the

Enterprises in Vietnam spent US$712 million importing 447,000 tons of cotton in the first five months of this year, up 35.2% in volume and 8.9% in value compared to the same period last year. The volume included 105,000 tons of cotton worth US$166 million, growing 39.1% in volume and 8.9% in value, Vietnam Television (VTV) reports, citing figures of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas). Vitas said cotton imports were higher than shipments of other materials used by apparel p

In its latest report, USDA has projected the global 2015/16 cotton production to decline 6 per cent from the previous season to 111.3 million bales.“Lower crops are forecast for most major cotton-producing countries in 2015/16, with India and Uzbekistan production level with 2014/15,” a press release from USDA informed.India is expected to be the leading producer in 2015/16 and is forecast to produce 29.5 million bales, or 26.5 per cent of global cotton production.“Lower area and higher yields,

Since the beginning of this year, China's textile industry has maintained steady growth through actively overcoming various negative factors such as weak market demand, price difference between overseas cotton and local-grown cotton and increasing manufacturing costs and by positively accelerating industry restructuring, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in a statement. 1. Production grew steadily and part of the products grew at a faster pace Figures from t