Every day we hear about problems faced by the textile industry in Pakistan, with high cost and low prices offered by buyers.

I have been working as a buyer in a sport apparel company in New Jersey for three years and before that I was an assistant buyer for a home textile importer for almost two years. I have worked with many companies from various countries.

My experience with Pakistan’s businessmen is that many are not good salesmen (exceptions are there). They don’t know how to get better prices for their product. We buy huge quantities of apparel from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but their salesmen are tough negotiators as compared to Pakistan’s.

If I tell a Pakistani salesman that I am getting X prices from his competitor in Pakistan, then this gentleman will immediately reduce his prices by five to 10 per cent, without even giving second thoughts. In fact I was just bluffing and the salesperson falls into my trap. Read the rest

July, 2008 (Business Standard) — The Indian apparel export industry, which is going through a tough phase, has urged the India’s Finance Ministry not to reduce the proposed Duty Drawback from 11 per cent to around 7 per cent. Duty drawback is paid to exporters to reimburse the taxes paid on goods during the course of production. India currently exports Rs 30,000 crore of apparel and this is expected to fall short by 10 per cent during the current year.

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) in a statement today said: “We understand that the Duty Drawback rates for apparel are being finalised and the indications are there that the Finance Ministry is contemplating to reduce the drawback by 3 to 4 per cent. This will have a disastrous effect when already employment numbers are declining. This will add to the severe unemployment in the apparel sector.” Read the rest

Welcome to the Mahindra World City Jaipur. Even as several SEZs are struggling to get off the ground, the Mahindras have managed to kick off their second SEZ at Jaipur, after their first one in Chennai.

“None of the big SEZ projects has taken off while we have made good progress on two of them. The Jaipur project will be operational this month,’’ said Arun Nanda, vice-chairman, Mahindra Lifespaces.

Most other projects have not been able to cross the first hurdle of land acquisition. “The Mahindras believed in SEZs before they came into place in India. Others are sitting on approvals and now thinking about what to do with them,’’ said Tapan Singhal, senior manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read the rest

(Muara Teweh via Fibre2Fashion) Pakistan Apparel Forum (PAF) has urged the Government to discontinue export of cotton as soon as possible, if they want to save the crumbling apparel industry of the country.

The demand of cotton from domestic enterprises is much more than the total cotton produced in Pakistan and on top of it if the authorities allowed export of cotton, there is bound to be shortage, resulting in increased prices of cotton, the brunt of which ultimately will have to be borne by the garment producers.

In 2007- 08 the total production of cotton in Pakistan was around 12.6 million bales, whereas annual requirement was nearly 15.5 million bales. As a result, the country has to import lint worth Rs 50 billion yearly to meet the shortfall of approximately 3 million bales. Read the rest

After four years, Wool and Woollens Export Promotion Council (WWEPC) has reported a decline of Rs 124.01 crore in export of woollen products during April 2007 to February 2008, on account of rupee appreciation against US dollar.

“We have observed a dip of 6.84 per cent in wool and woollen products exports after four years because of adverse impact of appreciation of rupee against dollar,” WWEPC Chairman Ashok Jaidka said.

While expressing concern over the decline in exports, he informed that the export of wool and wool-blended textile and readymade garments went down to Rs 1688.04 crore during April 2007 to February 2008 against Rs 1812.05 crore in the corresponding period a year-ago.

Jaidka further said that on the request of the council, the ministry of textiles had approved the opening of warehouse in Moscow, which would soon be set up. Read the rest

MUMBAI - (Reuters) - Indian guar futures may trade higher on Monday on export demand from the U.S. and China for industrial guar gum and on subdued monsoon rains in western Rajasthan, a key growing area, analysts said.

The weather department last Thursday had forecasted subdued rains in west Rajasthan till this Thursday, analysts said.

Lower rains adversely affect output depressing supplies and supporting a rise in prices.

September guar seed futures NGUU8 ended at 2,127 rupees per 100 kg, on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, in the previous session. Read the rest

Chennai: What does one do when production is not enough to meet export obligations? Buy from another country and meet them?

This is precisely what the Kenyan trade is doing – buying Indian tea to fulfill its export commitments. The Kenyan tea industry is currently suffering from lower production.

According to statistics available, its tea production during January-May is down by 36.8 million kg (mkg) at 134.6 mkg. The production has been affected by drought and political tension witnessed during the beginning of the year.

Kenya is one of the top two tea exporting nations along with Sri Lanka. “It cannot be seen faltering on its commitments since unlike India, it totally depends on exports. It also has export targets to meet,” says Mr Ullhas Menon, Secretary-General of the United Planters’ Association of Southern India. Read the rest