Apparel Sourcing Intelligence - Worldwide

2nd November 2020

China raps its most successful retailer’s knuckles – for honesty

Jack Ma, the world's most successful retailer and possibly China's most successful businessperson ever, was brutally shown on November 4 how the country really works. The Shanghai Stock Exchange said...

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23rd April 2018

Bangladesh: Capitalism’s greatest achievement?

On April 24, 2013 the Rana Plaza catastrophe made Bangladesh notorious. We all know how our industry became a pariah as well. Today – thanks to the way our industry...

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20th February 2014

Many Pakistanis doubtful about effectiveness of EU duty free deal

The EU decision to add Pakistan to the countries eligible for GSP+ duty-free access from January 2014 provoked as much Pakistani concern about its inadequate infrastructure as unrealistic expectations of...

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20th February 2014

Pakistan: two different approaches to textile parks

Proposals for purpose-built garment manufacturing parks pointed in different ways. Pakistan’s Punjab premier sounded plausible over a planned Textile City near Lahore, even showing Chinese investors claimed to be interested...

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20th February 2014

Sri Lankans excited about free trade with China

As well as expressing delight at growing exports, throughout autumn 2013 spokespeople for Sri Lanka’s garment trade showed surprising enthusiasm for a potential free trade deal with China, expecting its...

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20th February 2014

SE Asian growth heavily concentrated

The growth in SE Asian apparel exports during 2013 was heavily concentrated in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, with Burma  dominating public comment, but exporting fewer clothes than in 2000. Indonesia’s...

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20th February 2014

Burma growth: but “worst exporting country to do business in” says World Bank

Garment imports from Burma into the EU, US and Japan combined grew faster in Q3 than imports from any other substantial exporter. But that growth was on a minuscule base...

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20th February 2014

Cambodia labour problems worsen through year.

Cambodia started 2013 with loudly voiced worries that rising strikes would damage orders, after a near threefold increase in 2012 in the number of working days lost through strikes. The...

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20th February 2014

Indonesian businesses count cost of “declining competitiveness” as garment exports fall

For a country many saw in 2012 as a real alternative to China, the fall in Indonesia’s garment exports from double-digit growth at the beginning of 2013 to a year on...

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20th February 2014

India’s revival looking patchy

Though India’s garment exports are growing, helped by devaluation, Indian businesses complain about the cost of key imported components, like dyestuffs – and growing demand for yarn from China appears to...

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20th February 2014

Energy problems grow in South Asia

Apart from in Sri Lanka, energy reliability hit the industry throughout South Asia.   Pakistan’s constant energy crises undermined the profitability of its textile and garment making, especially in  Punjab...

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