Acquisition of Bompreco

Vincent Trius, President of Wal-Mart Brazil, announced the acquisition of Bompreco, a retail chain in northeastern Brazil with 118 units (hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini markets). Bompreco, formerly owned by Ahold, has more than 20,000 employees, who will be joining forces with Wal-Mart Brazil .

Hipercard, Bompreco's credit card manager and one of Brazil's leading credit card companies, has been purchased from Ahold by Unibanco. He said Hipercard will continue to be accepted in all Bompreco stores. Total value of the transaction is approximately $500 million, Trius said, about $300 million for the Bompreco assets and about $200 million for Hipercard.

With the acquisition, Wal-Mart Brazil will operate 143 units in the country, including 13 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 10 SAM'S CLUBS, two Wal-Mart Todo Dias and the 118 Bompreco hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini markets.

The acquisition gives Wal-Mart Brazil its first stores in the Northeast market.

ERP system for operation & management

Pacific Textiles (China) reports significant benefits in inventory reductions and in customer service improvements, obtained with TIM by Datatex. Panyu city lies in the heart of the Pearl River Delta area, 38 nautical miles from Hong Kong.

Through its territory flow about 21 arteries of the Pearl River and the waterways in the city are well developed for transportation, with 816 kilometres of channels.

One of the industrial resorts is the plant of Pacific Textiles Limited, a large enterprise in the manufacturing and trading of textile products, with headquarters in Hong Kong.

The Company has been growing rapidly since its establishment and is now one of the major players in knitting industry in Hong Kong, with over 3,000 staff and an annual fabric production capacity over 30 million kilograms.
The plant is made of three main factories (Knitting, Dyeing and Printing), all equipped with the most modern technologies, to produce Dyed fabric, Yarn dyed fabric and Printed fabric.

Its products range quite wide and the fabric specifications run in several thousands, which are defined through the cooperation of the Research & Development team with Pacific Textiles customers to meet their needs with the best products and services.

Pacific Textiles Limited took the lead to implement an ERP system for its operation and management, TIM - Textile Integrated Manufacturing by Datatex. With this application, specific for the textile and apparel industries, Pacific Textiles Limited handles end-to-end all the information required to manage a production organisation. The main implemented functions are:

· the order fulfilment cycle is managed from acceptance and entry through to picking, packing, shipping and invoicing.

· the feasibility of requested delivery dates is checked on finite capacity and available materials.

· pricing and invoicing is done directly from job lots for commission processors.

· manufacturing orders are launched, scheduled and tracked across the textile production cycle .

· minimum inventory levels, re-order quantities and replenishment times drive purchasing and stock policies.

· purchasing is handled from order through receipt to billing control and supplier evaluation.

· Inspection of the finished fabric to ensure the quality standards and increase the first quality levels.

Quoting Dr. Clement Lam, Pacific Textiles limited Director, "We are well satisfied with the implementation of TIM-Textile Integrated Manufacturing by Datatex. Not only we are measuring significant benefits in inventory reductions and in customer service improvements, but also we have the support and the data to taking informed decisions."

TIM is totally adaptable to small and very large companies, producing any part of the supply chain from fiber to garment.

Alliance to Promote Wool Specialist Chemicals

The Woolmark Company and BASF, Germany, have signed a cooperation agreement for The Woolmark Company to provide wool expertise for their R&D programmes and to work with BASF on technical and marketing support to promote their wool specific product ranges including Basolan®.

This textile alliance allows BASF and The Woolmark Company to develop new products in specialist wool processing - from dyeing auxiliaries through to fabric and garment finishing.

The fashion trend to natural materials and fibres and the modern interpretations of more elegant and classic styles are opening up new market opportunities for wool worldwide. Everyday, wool is being re-invented for today’s consumer. Wool’s unique natural properties and qualities are being exploited in products ranging from luxury designer fashion to high performance sportswear and interior textile products. The Woolmark Company is a catalyst for this re-invention of wool and alliances with world leaders such as BASF will accelerate this mission.

Good 2003 results

Thanks to a solid strategy Eduard Küsters Maschinen-fabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Krefeld, is able to report good results for financial year 2003. Dr. Erich W. Bröker, CEO adds that this is a very satisfactory state of affairs, given the difficult economic climate worldwide. He believes it to be a clear indication that the company's business development was set on the right course in good time. "There is no denying that we suffered from the plunge in capital expenditure in the US and Europe over the last year. However, with our new subsidiary in Shanghai, the restructuring and modernising of our company and our new products and services we have undoubtedly chosen the right route."

Chinese connection

The Chinese connection of all three business areas - textile, nonwoven and paper - plays an important part in this. Supported by the new presence in Shanghai, business has developed well, despite the SARS crisis. Already China has become Küsters' strongest trade partner outside Europe. This did not just happen by chance. Küsters' extensive planning and engineering know-how, recognised high product quality and broad implementation expertise are convincing pluses. An additional benefit in the Chinese market is the fact that the new subsidiary in Shanghai has further increased proximity to market and customers.
Götz Theurer, General Manager Textile, commented "Apart from the strong China business, the main regions that stand out as booming for the textile industry are the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey are regional centres that deserve particular mention. Dyeing ranges, the new Elanit product line for the finishing of knitted fabrics, carpet ranges and laboratory foulards are in pleasingly strong demand. With our new processes and products that have attracted great interest at recent trade fairs, we will proactively shape the future."

Textile industry employment in the United States fell 10% in 2003, according to the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI). The decline, based on figures from ATMI annual year-end trade and economic report, is the second-highest in half a century. Textile mill and textile product mill employment fell to 428,000 workers at year-end 2003, a loss of 50,000 industry jobs from year-end 2002.

While 10 % of all textile jobs lost were at Kannapolis-based linen and towelling manufacturer Pillowtex Corp, the majority of losses were in the apparel sector which suffered an 8 % year-on-year decline in shipments to $40 billion.

Nearly 50 textile mills shut their doors in 2003, ATMI said, adding that more than one out of every four textile jobs that existed in the United States just 36 months ago in January 2001 has now disappeared.

Meanwhile, shipments of non-apparel textiles such as carpets and industrial fabrics rose 2% year-on-year to $35bn for the 12-month period.

ATMI president James W Chesnutt, National Spinning Co, said the year-end report highlights the fact that the US textile industry "will be in a fight for its survival in the coming year."

He called on the Administration to negotiate an effective textile trade agreement with China and take punitive steps against China over its "illegally manipulated currency, its textile subsidies, tax rebates and other illegal trading practices.

"As for the Congress, it must reject the fatally flawed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that was recently negotiated, and reject any attempts to expand preferential trade programs such as AGOA to the detriment of US textile producers and jobs."

ATMI said imports from China rose by approximately 85 % last year, with China now supplying 19 % of the US textile and apparel import market.

In apparel categories where China was removed from quota control, China gained a 55 % share of the market in less than two years and is now twice as large as the next largest supplier (Mexico).