GOTS is designed to give a quick overview on the content and requirements of the standard.
The OTCO fiber program certifies to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which is dedicated specifically for Fiber & Textile Handling and production. GOTS is a project of the International Working Group, who developed these consensus-based standards over many years of discussion and deliberation. The aim of the standard is to define requirements to ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials,
Sava International Now GOTS certified Textile Exporter
July 13th, 2010Sava International Certification of GOTS at Sava’s Karur (Tamil Nadu).
July 13th, 2010Sava International takes pride to announce the Certification of GOTS at Sava’s Karur (Tamil Nadu) factory for the development of organic textiles.
Sava, once again has been quick to upgrade to the new GOTS standard, to keep up with the current trend and the ever increasing demand for Organic Textiles.
GOTS, Global Organic Textile Standard is recognized as key processing standard certifying textiles made from organic fibers around the globe. It basically defines exuberant level criteria for environment along with the complete chain of supply of organic textiles and needs compliance with the other social criteria as well. According to GOTS, only those textile products are ideal for certification that contain a minimum of 70% organic fibers. All the chemical inputs, like auxiliaries and dyestuffs used should meet certain toxicological and environment criteria and even the accessories choice is limited within certain ecological aspects. In case of involvement of any wet-processing unit, a functional waste water treatment is necessary and each and every processor should comply with the social minimum criteria. The leading GOT’s criteria is its quality assurance system and the basic principles of revision and review process which is summarized with every particular section provided.
Sava 
International is now actively following Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) for the processing of cotton, organic fiber ensuring the organic status of cotton through environmentally responsible methods and for offering due assurance to the end users.
Considerate precautions are taken at all stages, starting from procurement of certified organic raw material, including weaving, dyeing and printing, embroidery, cutting, stitching, checking, labeling, packaging, inspection, export and administration, range of furnishing etc.
Indian ban pushes Bangladeshi spinners to Australian cotton
June 8th, 2010Submitted by Saurav Shukla
Dhaka, June 8 : Spinners in Bangladesh are switching to expensive cotton from Australia due to “uncertainties” caused by India’s export restrictions, the New Age newspaper said Tuesday.
Although India last month eased the restrictions partially, the newspaper said the spinners, awaiting arrival of 150,000 tonnes of Indian cotton contracted before a April 21 ban, found the suppliers “prevaricating”.
It quoted Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, a director of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), as saying that Indian suppliers were not delivering the negotiated consignments, citing many pretexts.
“Bangladeshi spinners are even ready to pay cotton duty imposed by the Indian authorities but the suppliers are saying that they are unable to arrange stocks,” Ahmed said.
He said due to high costs, Australian cotton earlier did not attract them. But “global supply shortage and restriction on cotton exports by India this year have pushed Bangladeshi spinners to turn to Australian cotton”.
The Indian government had clamped the ban on export of cotton in a bid to control rising prices in the domestic market. It withdrew on May 21 the ban on Bangladesh and Pakistan bound consignments but on condition that export consignments would have to be licensed and contracted before the ban.
Shawkot Aziz Russel, managing director of the Partex Group, which has several spinning units, said no local spinner was sure about delivery of cotton consignments that had been contracted before the ban.
“Indian suppliers are telling us that they are yet to get clearance for shipping cotton to Bangladesh,” said Russel, whose company’s annual cotton procurement from India amounts to around $15 million.
Industry insiders estimate more than 150,000 tonnes of Australian cotton have been booked by Bangladeshi spinners.
“Nearly 30,000 tonnes of Australian cotton have been booked in the last few weeks by the Bangladeshi importers,” said Deepok K. Baral, managing director of DSM Commodities, a leading cotton merchant.(IANS)
Singapore-based Olam, a top global commodity trading house, alone has dealt more than 20,000 tonnes cotton contracts, said Baral, who represents Olam in Bangladesh.
China, Indonesia and Vietnam are major buyers of Australian cotton, but Bangladesh’s annual procurements from Australia remain at 5,000 tonnes or less.
News Source is http://www.topnews.in/
Cotton under restricted list
May 25th, 2010M. Soundariya Preetha
The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has brought cotton and cotton waste under the restricted list for exports through a notification dated May 21, 2010.
Thus, export license is now needed to export cotton or cotton waste. During the cotton season (October 2009 to September 2010), 85.26 lakh bales of raw cotton were registered for exports from October 2009 to April 15, 2010, and of this, 73.58 lakh bales were shipped. On April 19, the Union Ministry of Textiles suspended registration of cotton and cotton waste for exports.
According to Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry D. K. Nair, only a negligible quantity is expected to be permitted for further export from the current crop as the Group of Ministers had decided last month that a closing stock of 50 lakh bales should be maintained.
Cotton availability is likely to go up in the domestic market and prices will come down. This will, however, not affect farmers as most of the cotton production had already come to the market this season, he said.
News Source is http://beta.thehindu.com
Textiles exports may touch $24 billion in 2010-11
May 24th, 2010SME Times News Bureau
With the revival of demand in Western markets, India’s textile exports may grow up to $24 billion in 2010-11 from an estimated $20 billion in the previous fiscal, industry and government officials have said in New Delhi.
“In 2009-10, our textiles exports are estimated at $20 billion due to the global economic crisis. We expect exports to be $24 billion for the current fiscal,” an official in the Textile Ministry said.
The textile exports are set to move in sync with the country’s overall exports, which have been growing for six months since November, 2009.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel said textile exports can reach $24 billion if the government extends a helping hand to the industry, which is facing problems.
There has been a steep rise in cotton prices, which shot up by over 20 per cent in the past six months, resulting in higher fabric costs.
“The target can be met provided the government continues some regulations on cotton and cotton yarn exports,” he said.
The government has brought cotton exports under the restricted category, with overseas shipments subject to licensing.
US and European markets, which account for 30-35 per cent of textile exports from India, have seen revival of demand across different sectors, exporters said.
The exporters are also exploring new markets like Africa, Latin America and Oceania.
“Orders are improving. Demand for fabric has also gone up,” said Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Secretary General D K Nair.
News Source is http://smetimes.tradeindia.com
Removing mistrust through bis coopn
May 20th, 2010United News of India
Setting aside political differences, India and Pakistan have decided to change public perception and remove the existing mistrust between the two countries through promotion of trade and business ties.
A two-day meeting of top Indian and Pakistani CEOs and entrepreneurs here, which concluded today, proposed several steps to aggressively pursue the benefits of economic cooperation and identified several sectors having the highest potential for bilateral cooperation.
These include energy, agriculture, health-care, information technology and education.
The conference which was inaugurated by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday, also urged the governments in both the countries to take all steps necessary to realize the tremendous potential of trade and commerce between the two countries. The meeting noted with concern that South Asia is the world’s least economically integrated region.
Mr Mukherjee, who was the External Affairs Minister when the 26/11, 2008, terror attacks on Mumbai took place, stressed the strong linkage and inter-dependence between peace and sustained economic growth and development of the two countries.
After the two-day deliberations, industry leaders of both the countries agreed that economic cooperation was crucial to peace and progress in a region that has the highest concentration of people living below the poverty line.
The participants said potential existed for the export of home textiles from Pakistan to India while a huge market existed in Pakistan for India’s polyester textiles.
In the field of IT, the fastest growing sector in both countries and the easiest area to cooperate in, India could collaborate with Pakistan by providing skilled resources at competitive rates.
Considerable potential existed for trade in agriculture through streamlining logistics and storage facilities.
The Joint Declaration said India and Pakistan could also collaborate on research for improved yields in, and greater export for, both the countries. In health-care, opportunity for collaboration existed in research and combating the three major diseases in both the countries–heart, diabetes and cancer.
For energy cooperation, the conference said both the countries had huge untapped reserves of energy and collaboration could lend impetus to accelerated growth and development.
In education, given the low average age in both countries (18.2 years in Pakistan and 22.5 years in India), education and skill development was an area of immediate concern and potential.
Cooperation and sharing of strategies in education is the best investment that both the countries can make, the Joint Declaration said.
Committees comprising business leaders from both the countries were established for IT and textile sectors while similar committees for other sectors were in the process of being set up, it added.
News’s Source is http://www.centralchronicle.com/
Exports in April jump 36%; imports surge 43%
May 20th, 2010“The real interesting story here is the huge surge in imports because I have never seen numbers this large.” – Dr Rahul Khullar New Delhi, May 19
Exports in 2010-11 have kicked off on a positive note with shipments in April – the first month of this fiscal – posting a 36.2 per cent year-on-year growth to touch $16.9 billion.
However, the robust growth comes over a low base. Last April, exports had fallen by 30 per cent to $12.4 billion due to the financial crisis.
It is not surprising that the Government did not express any great enthusiasm about the export growth in April.
“Don’t get carried away by these numbers. You have an increase in percentage terms (in April) because of the low base (of April 2009),” the Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, told reporters here on Wednesday.
Dr Khullar expressed concern over the Euro zone debt crisis and the US’ slow economic recovery. The US and the European Union are traditional markets for Indian exports with the EU accounting for a fifth of total exports, while shipments to the US comprise 12 per cent.
Meanwhile, indicating strong industrial recovery and increasing domestic growth, imports in April recorded a huge 43.3 per cent increase to $27.3 billion from $19.1 billion in April 2009. Oil imports rose to $8.1 billion from $4.7 billion in April last year, while gems and jewellery imports rose 118 per cent, chemicals (47 per cent) and iron and steel (141 per cent).
Revival signal “The real interesting story here is the huge surge in imports because I have never seen numbers this large. Over $8 billion jump in a month,” Dr Khullar said.
Mr A Sakthivel, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said the import growth is an indication of revival of manufacturing sector which in turn will facilitate exports. Industrial production is registering double digit growth and the growth in March was 13.5 per cent. Industrial growth for 2009-10 was 10.4 per cent.
On the future outlook regarding exports, the Commerce Secretary said, “Given the current global uncertainties, I won’t say things are fine on the export front. The situation in EU is certainly not normal. Recovery in US is still far from gung-ho. Therefore, to expect that exports (for 2010-11) will grow at 25-30 per cent is a pipedream. But when you get some degree of greater assurance, that is when jobs are back in the US and the employment situation starts picking up in Europe, then all of us will be able to breathe much easier than we are today.”
Exports from sectors like textile (30 per cent growth), engineering goods (up 16 per cent), marine, petroleum products (80 per cent growth), gems and jewellery (36 per cent increase) posted a rise while food grains and handicrafts are faring poorly. Trade deficit for April increased to $10.4 billion from $6.7 billion in the same month last year.
The Government has set an export target of $200 billion for 2010-11, a 13 per cent growth over $176.5 billion in 2009-10.
Mr Sakthivel said, “We need to regularly review our strategy in view of the set back in Euro zone. We hope the crisis won’t spread.”
Mr Aman Chadha, Chairman, Engineering Exports Promotion Council, said, “The weak sentiment in Euro zone is impacting our business. But certain markets like Germany and Italy are better, especially for segments like auto and auto parts. However, it is difficult to predict the future outlook.”
India’s exports had contracted for 13 consecutive months starting October 2008. It turned positive in November 2009.
Dr Khullar said the Commerce Ministry is doing a stock-taking exercise in consultation with the industry to understand which sectors need to be incentivised in the forthcoming Foreign Trade Policy supplement to boost exports.
Mr Sakthivel demanded concessional credit to exporters as the interest rate in India is higher than what is prevailing in competing countries.
Article’s Source is http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
Silver lining: Exports of textiles to US on the rise
May 18th, 2010M Allirajan, TNN, May 18, 2010, 12.21am IST
COIMBATORE: After declining for several months because of the global financial meltdown, textile exports to the US are finally back on track, recording growth in February and March. Textile and apparel exports to the US, which account for more than a quarter of shipments made by the industry, rose 8.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in March to $487.8 million. Exports increased 7.7% y-o-y to $443.5 million in February, data with the office of textiles and apparel, US Department of Commerce shows.
Apparel exports to the US, however, posted a modest 2.8% growth in March to $315.1 million. “Demand has started to pick up in the US. The bookings are quite reasonable and (trade) enquiries have also been quite good,” says Premal Udani, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).
“We are seeing a real improvement across all segments of the industry. Orders are coming in and after nearly two years of slowdown we are witnessing a recovery,” says P Nataraj, managing director, KPR Mill. “The recovery is slowly taking shape in both domestic and international markets.” “This year (fiscal 2011) would definitely be better,” says A Sakthivel, president, Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA).
Garment exports to the EU, the largest market bloc for Indian markets, however, continues to remain weak. “Europe (demand) is somewhat weak because of the uncertainty faced by some countries (in the region),” says Udani.
“Orders to EU countries have been quite weak but the US has been much better,” says an exporter. Apparel exports to the EU are estimated to have come down by 16.8% to $4.5 billion in fiscal 2010.
While the industry is seeing a silver lining, some officials advise caution. Though inquiries are good, exporters are finding it difficult to convert them into orders as they have been adversely hit by rising raw material prices and the rupee appreciation, says Sakthivel.
News Source is http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Dhaka textile firms lack skilled hands
May 15th, 2010PALPA: The cottage industries in Palpa are facing a shortage of workers after the youths from the district have been lured towards foreign employment. This situation has arisen after increasing number of youths from the district started going for foreign employment due to the low wages and irregular pay at home.
The traditional Dhaka textile industries, a hallmark of Palpa district, have been hit hard by shortage of skilled workers.
The Karki Dhaka Udhyog located in the district headquarters Tansen is facing shortage of manpower at present. This Dhaka textile factory needs approximately 60 skilled and semi-skilled workers. There are only 25 workers at present.
Proprietors of Dhaka textile industries in Palpa district say they are facing shortage of skilled human resources as an increasing number of youths started going abroad for work or those already employed at their factories left their jobs to go on foreign employment. Although more than 400
industries, including the Dhaka textile industries, have been registered in Palpa district, not even 50 per cent of them are in operation due to the shortage of skilled workers, an officer at the District Cottage and Small Industries Office said.
News Source is http://www.thehimalayantimes.com
Nepali products get zero-tariff in Chinese market
May 15th, 2010Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: Nepal got zero-tariff for 4,721 products in Chinese market.
Purusottam Ojha, secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) and Qui Guohong, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal today signed an agreement on Letter of Exchange (LoE) regarding zero-tariff on 4,721 Nepali products to Chinese market.
Before the agreement Nepali exportable products were charged 10 per cent to 35 per cent customs duty.
“The agreement on LoE will help decrease trade deficit with China,” OJha said adding that amongst 4,721 products, 361 products will get direct benefit. “The most essential products like carpet, leather, coffee, Juice and silverware will get zero-tariff in the Chinese market,” he added.
Earlier, China has announced top provide zero-tariff to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) gradually. “Tariff reduction has been a key issue in global trade,” the envoy said adding that China is committed to WTO. “China is against the trade protectionism as it hurts the global trade,” he added.
During the year 2009 bilateral trade registered $414 million. The trade balance is in favour of China. “This agreement will help Nepal balance the trade deficit,” Guohong said.
Requesting to take part in the trade expos — that are going to be held in China — he also urged the entrepreneurs to take advantage from the concession.
Welcoming the Chinese gesture, president of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and CA member Binod Chaudhary asked China to open up more. “We are hopeful that China will gradually provide zero-tariff to 90 per cent goods,” he said. “Nepal also looks forward to Mutual Investment Agreement with China,” Chaudhary added.
Supporting the envoy on development of Export Promotion Zone (EPZ) at Panchkhal, he also requested China to help in it.
The major Nepali exportable products to China are mushroom, orange, cherry, coffee, carpet, garment, beer, incense-sticks, match sticks, apple, tomato, onion, potato, strawberry, honey, cauliflower, brocauli, biscuit, grapes, soap, shampoo, mineral water, textile cotton clothes, wool, brass, fruit juice, leather products, marble, paints, ceramics, jewellery, copper wire, and cable which has been granted free customs.
News Source is http://www.thehimalayantimes.com