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Tag: textiles

Guest post: after Rana Plaza, let’s stop passing the buck over building regulation

May 7, 2013 10:14am by beyondbrics
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By Qazi Arif of Envision Architects

Nearly two weeks have passed since the disaster at Rana Plaza in Savar, Dhaka, which is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, and the deadliest structural failure in modern times.

It is easy to simply say the building was poorly constructed. How and why is harder to understand, given the confusion and and buck-passing surrounding building permits and construction regulation. How can this be prevented in future? Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, Bangladesh |
From FT.com February 11, 2013

Seamstresses work in a factory that makes and exports Valentino men's suits in 10th of Ramadan City, Egypt

The slide in the value of the Egyptian pound since December is good news for the textile industry, but its impact is blunted by the deterioration in economic and business conditions since the 2011 revolution, exporters say, writes Heba Saleh in Cairo.

Manufacturers have been arguing for years that the currency is overvalued, damaging competitiveness and business. Though they now welcome the devaluation of the pound, they are deeply anxious about the upheavals in the exchange market and the more general deterioration in the business climate. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Africa, Egypt |

China re-balancing: good for the neighbours

Jan 31, 2013 3:30am by Andrew Bowman
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The re-balancing of the Chinese economy should enable Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to double their share of the world textile market and boost intra-Asian trade as a proportion of world trade – so says a report from the consultancy Ernst & Young. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, China |

Bangladesh faces US trade sanctions threat after deadly factory fire

Jan 29, 2013 3:20pm by Victor Mallet
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The deadly fire at a clothing factory in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka in November, in which 117 workers died, could have consequences for the country’s exports as well as for its tarnished reputation as a manufacturing power. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Bangladesh |

Mittelstand buy: Fong’s gets Monforts

Dec 3, 2012 9:00am by Enid Tsui
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Another German Mittelstand has been snapped up by a Chinese manufacturer, this time in textiles.

Hong Kong-based Fong’s Industries has just completed its acquisition of Monforts, based just outside Dusseldorf, in the latest example of how Chinese companies are eager to purchase world-class engineering skills and innovation as well as market share in the developed world. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, China |

[video] Cutting a new cloth in Pakistan

Mar 2, 2012 2:15am by beyondbrics
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Under pressure from Bangladesh, China and India, Pakistan’s leading textile manufacturers are trying to move up the value chain. The FT’s Henny Sender visits a Nishat Mills factory to investigate what is happening in the industry.

Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, Pakistan |

Bangladesh: a Chinese stitch-up?

Dec 15, 2011 3:00am by David Keohane
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Bangladesh could be this decade’s great usurper if it manages to sidle into the low-value manufacturing gap China is leaving in its wake as it moves up the value-adding ladder. And if a report by McKinsey, the consultancy, is correct the ready made garment sector is one place where Bangladesh is ready to strike. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, Bangladesh |

Bangladesh: riots for higher wages

Dec 14, 2010 3:30pm by Anjli Raval
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Days of violent protests by Bangladeshi garment workers – who produce clothes for western brands like Marks & Spencer, H&M, Tesco and Walmart – demanding a higher minimum wage peaked on Sunday when at least three people were killed and 250 people were injured in clashes with police.

Since then, production has resumed in some units of the Dhaka and Chittagong Export Processing Zones, after employees were given assurances that they would reap the full benefits of a new pay scale promised last month. But many have remained closed, with the issue of wages still looming. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in India |

Crisis time out: North Korea goes hunting for silk

Nov 26, 2010 8:11am by Ben Bland
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Given the parlous state of its economy and its generally hostile attitude to the outside world, North Korea does not have much of a reputation as an outward investor.

But, while the country’s political masters have been busy trying to start a new war on the Korean peninsula, a delegation from North Korea’s foreign trade ministry has been in Vietnam looking to invest in the silk and garment industry. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in North Korea, Vietnam |

BB: time to register

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beyondbrics

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