New Delhi: The standard operating procedure (SOP) document for negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) is expected to be ready by the end of this year, an official said on Thursday. The official said that it is an internal document which aims to standardise the processes of negotiations of these pacts. The commerce ministry is formulating the document and it would seek "guidance" from higher authorities also on this for any changes if required. It has been circulated informally to 17 ministries, including agriculture, labour and environment, for their views as FTA negotiation is a multi-ministerial exercise. "Our target is this year. We would like to have the 2024 version. It will be reviewed after every 2-3 years," the official said, adding that the objective is to document "our process of negotiations so that whatever learning we are having of different FTA negotiations, we are able to document those". It will also include the best practices which gives "best out-comes" so that whenever somebody is doing these negotiations in the future, he/she is able to refer to it. The government officers are mobile, so "we need to document those learnings in the form of SOP," the official said, adding that its an internal document for the ministry and it has nothing to do with FTA content or quality. The European Union, Australia and international organisations have their SOPs for negotiations. To discuss the various aspects of these agreements, the commerce ministry has organised a two-day 'Chintan Shivir' on FTA strategy and SOPs for trade negotiations on May 16-17. The exercise assumes significance as India is engaging with several trade partners to negotiate free trade pacts. In the Chintan Shivir, various issues were discussed, including India's trade strategy and vision 2047; economic assessment and modelling of FTAs; inclusion of new disciplines into FTAs such as labour, environment, gender, and indigenous people; services and digital trade; and SOPs for FTA negotiations. A separate session was also organised on leveraging India's FTAs to address new forms/kinds of measures like CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism), supply chain disruptions, critical minerals and Artificial Intelligence. India is negotiating trade pacts with the UK, the EU (European Union), Peru, and a comprehensive trade deal with Australia. It is also in talks with the Eurasian Economic Union for a trade agreement. The country has inked trade pacts with Mauritius, the UAE, Australia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) since 2021.
Source: Economic Times
New Delhi: India is keeping a close watch on the trade negotiations of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for Prosperity, which the other 13 members have joined as the trade off to take on binding commitments under the pact is not clear, an official said Thursday. The members have also started a critical mineral dialogue to work on areas like regulations and technological gaps in the sector to enhance cooperation.
Source: Economic Times
Asia is still the region best-connected to global shipping networks, according to the latest Review of Maritime Transport released by UN Trade & Development (UNCTAD).
Asian economies retain top spots on the global liner shipping connectivity index, with China at the top, followed by the South Korea and Singapore, the report shows. The index was introduced in 2004 by UNCTAD and is based on main components of the maritime transport sector like ship sizes, deployed capacity, numbers of service providers and weekly calls.
Vietnam has recorded the highest long-term increase of 199 per cent in connectivity since 2006.
China, Japan and South Korea continue their dominance in ship building, accounting for about 95 per cent of global output. For the first time, China delivered over half of the world’s new ships in 2023.
Conflict in the Red Sea has severely hit shipping through the Suez Canal and exacerbated congestion in major ports elsewhere in Asia, the review noted.
Between March and May this year, waiting times in Singapore nearly doubled from 24 to 40 hours, while in Port Klang, Malaysia, it went up from 20 to 26 hours.
Faced with low water levels linked to climate-induced droughts, draft restrictions in the Panama Canal in 2023 led to shipment delays and higher costs. This affected trade routes exporting grains and minor bulk commodities from the Americas to Asia, with a 31-per cent increase in sailing distances for completed journeys and a 25-per cent drop in cargo volume.
The report shows main maritime waterways connecting the East and West accounted for at least 36 per cent of global containerised trade last year. These include routes from East Asia to North America, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
On the other hand, South-South routes linking the developing world of East and Western Asia, Oceania, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, achieved the highest increase (plus 9.3 per cent) in its volume of global containerised trade in 2023.
Global gas trade is projected to rise, considering expanding infrastructure for the storage and transport of liquefied natural gas, as well as rising demand from Asia and Europe.
Inland terminals, or dry ports, have the potential to boost regional cooperation and benefit landlocked developing countries, the review report observed. Their development is also part of the Asian Highway Network and Trans-Asian Railway Network, also known as the Eurasian Landbridge.
The network of dry ports in China and the various inland container depots in India, the report added, have helped improve trade flows by decentralising seaport operations.
Source: Fibre2fashion
High interest rates are a major issue for Indian exporters. Three-fourths borrow at over 12 per cent. A survey shows 40 per cent exporters expect exports to decline this year. The commerce department is exploring solutions to ease credit flow and reduce borrowing costs. Freight rates and logistics also impact competitiveness. High interest rates pose a significant challenge for Indian exporters, with three-fourths of them borrowing at over 12 percent, even after providing collaterals. According to a survey by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, shared with the Times of India, this issue is a major concern among exporters. The survey revealed that 40 percent of exporters expect a decline in exports for the current financial year, while 22 percent anticipate up to 5 percent growth. India's exports grew by 1 percent, reaching $213 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year. The US and UAE were noted as key growth markets by most exporters. Of the 678 exporters surveyed, 39 percent cited high interest rates as a top concern. Freight rates, which have increased due to tensions in the Persian Gulf and shipping line availability, were identified as another major problem. Although the government has attempted to address freight issues, borrowing costs remain high. Currently, 22 percent of exporters borrow at rates between 10-12 percent. With the Reserve Bank of India's repo rate set at 6.5 percent, lending rates are elevated compared to other regional countries like China (3.1 percent), Vietnam (4.5 percent), Malaysia (3 percent), and Thailand (2.25 percent) Lenders are maintaining a spread of almost 6 percent when lending to exporters, a long-standing issue. Proposals to extend interest subsidies have been stalled. Meawhile, India is reportedly planning a new loan scheme for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and ecommerce exporters that won’t require collateral. This initiative comes as the country aims to reach $2 trillion (around ₹168 lakh crore) in exports by 2030, ET reported citing officials aware of the discussions. Although the specifics of the scheme are still being worked out, the government is in talks with banks and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to create a program that provides these loans based on the exporters' past performance. An official, who wished to remain unnamed, explained that the goal is to increase export credit, create new financing options, and lower interest rates for exporters. Small exporters face additional hurdles, as 82 percent reported having to provide security to obtain loans. The commerce department is exploring ways to ease credit flow and utilise Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) guarantees to help lower borrowing costs. Freight costs are particularly impactful, with 82 percent of survey respondents affected by high rates. Additionally, 86 percent reported that logistics affected their competitiveness, with ocean freight being the primary concern.
Source: Economic Times
Surat’s traders are experiencing a lack of trucks to transport goods and the nation’s largest man-made fibres (MMF) hub is occupied in the lead-up to Diwali, completing orders in the city’s north and northeast.
This year, more than 80,000 packages valued at US $ 29.73 million are being carried by cargo trains in order to deliver products before to the start of Diwali festivities. To date, textile markets have asked for 11 special textile goods trains, each with 25 cargo waggons, to deliver commodities to states in the north and northeast, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Seven of these trains have already carried cargo and the remaining trains will depart during the course of the following four days. About 350 trucks transport textiles to the country’s northern and northeastern states each day, but there are more and more packages waiting. Textile packages fill the majority of transportation warehouses and textile market storage spaces. After almost five years, textile traders report that they are now experiencing a good Diwali.
“In many regions of the nation, there is a tremendous rush to supply items due to the strong demand. Since there aren’t many trucks, we decided to use the railroads to move goods and seven cargo trains have already done so,” stated Kailash Hakim, the Federation of Surat Trade and Textile Associations (FOSTTA) forum President.
About a month ago, the FOSTTA forum met with the railways and made plans for 22 trains. At the same time, an intent letter for 11 cargo trains was filed.
The lengthy wedding season has led to a strong demand for textile items across the nation, according to Sunil Jain, chairman of the South Gujarat Textile Traders Association (SGTTA). “Since we are experiencing this season after a five-year break, the current buying is not just for Diwali and is encouraging for the textile business.”
Source: Apparel Resource
Thai sportswear manufacturer, Pilot Knit Garment, part of the Yong Udom Textile Group has selected Coats Digital’s FastReactPlan solution to digitally transform its manual planning processes by connecting more accurate planning and forecasting data across departments in a bid to improve efficiencies, optimise its On-Time Delivery Performance (OTDP) and significantly reduce lead times. As part of one of Thailand’s premier textile groups, Yong Udom Textile Group, Pilot Knit Garment was established in 1986 as a specialist sportswear, casualwear and knitwear manufacturer for some of the world’s leading brands including Nike, Converse, Jordan, Erima, O’Neill, Agnes B and Le Coq Sportif, among many others. Headquartered in Samutsakorn, Thailand, Pilot Knit Garment produces 200,000 pieces per month and employs a workforce of over 660. Ampon Ruayfupan, MD, Pilot Knit Garment, commented on the selection: “We expect that the adoption of FastReactPlan will prove a real game changer for us. As part of the Yong Udom Textile Group, although we have access to quality knit and dye mills that provide us with premier fabrics, we have still found it difficult to correctly map our fabric plans. With all our capacity and production plans stored in Excel spreadsheets and updated manually, we suffered a lack of clear visibility into capacity availability, unnecessary confusion around fabric requirements and could not plan orders more than a month in advance.”
“As a result, our planning and production teams were constantly firefighting to meet delivery targets, and we were often plagued with under- or over capacity utilisation. Without an accurate real-time picture of our production line’s capacity status, it often took us over two days to create a workable production plan, and it was hugely complicated and time-consuming to implement any last-minute style change requests.” Part of Coats Digital’s core Manufacturing Solution Suite, Fast React Plan is a dynamic, visual production planning and control tool that optimises delivery, efficiency and lead times. Designed and developed specifically for apparel and footwear manufacturers, it helps companies integrate capacity, critical path and materials into an integrated planning system. Ampon Ruayfupant, MD, Pilot Knit Garment, commented: "With capacity and production planning playing such a business-critical element of our business, we needed a comprehensive planning tool to streamline our operations, improve efficiencies and provide accurate visibility into the capacity of our production lines so that we could confidently take on new business and plan orders months in advance. Fast React Plan’s unrivalled capabilities in integrating planning processes quickly and providing dynamic, real-time updates made it the ideal choice.” “We expect the solution will greatly reduce costs by eliminating shipment delays and poor fabric management, and significantly improve production efficiencies due to better balanced production lines.”
Haruethai Phaleesem, Digital Sales Manager, Coats Digital, said: “We are delighted that Pilot Knit has joined our growing global family of newly digitized fashion manufacturing partners. We worked closely with their teams to seamlessly integrate FastReactPlan with their Tega ERP system. FastReactPlan will now provide greater visibility and one version of the truth for all its capacity planning teams, so it can easily optimise efficiencies and eradicate problems swiftly. We look forward to supporting the company’s digitization journey to help it achieve its business goals and quickly capitalise on advanced production methods to maintain its market-leading competitiveness.”
Source: Knitting Industry
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