General Updates Jan 2010

China's Clothing Sector Grows

It seems that the global financial crisis did not have such an adverse impact on China's apparel and textile industries according to a new report

Export values of textile and apparel products from the Southern coastal Guangdong Province grew by 6.3% year on year to reach USD 2.36 billion. The duty drawback is offered to offset the incidence of customs duty, service tax, and central excise duty on export items. This duty given to the Chinese apparel exporters were revised five times from 11% to 17%.

Years of investment in high quality facilities focus on orders and keeping up with the delivery times have been the key factors for their success. Credit facilities offered by the banks, government instructions to exporters, abolition of quotas by US, and EU on Chinese apparel imports have also supplemented their export figures.

Ref: Fibre2fashion.com

Bangladeshi knitwear industry looks at Africa

The knitwear industry is the most significant component in the textile industry of Bangladesh. It is the second largest sector in the country constituting a 32% of share in the export market. Availability of abundant and cheap labor, easily trainable workforce, and policy support from the government offer competitive advantages to the industry. The growth of the knitwear industry has motivated the manufacturers to explore new markets. Knitwear manufacturers in Bangladesh are beginning to explore the African market. During the financial year 2009, exports of woven and knit garment exports to South Africa amounted to $42.51million USD.

Ref: Fibre2fashion.com

South Africa's Apparel Sector Output Declines

Local manufacturing output contracted by 4,7% year-on-year in November, the least negative growth rate recorded, to date, in 2009, according to Statistics South Africa. The contraction in manufacturing production had slowed to a negative growth of 9,6% year-on-year in October last year, a vast improvement on the record decline of 21,6% recorded in April 2009.The South African clothing and textile and footwear industries contributed to the national decline in manufacturing output. These sector saw a 9.2% decline. In output.