Wool prices continued soaring in Australia during the month of August 2009, mainly due to a lack of supply in this country. The Australian dollar slightly fell in addition, therefore stimulating sales.

EU imports of cotton denim trousers continued steadily rising in 2008. The elimination of quotas boosted shipments from China after prices were significantly reduced. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Mauritius were other winners in the past year while imports from Mediterranean countries were already slowing down.

Tanzania, East Africa’s biggest cotton producer, cut its forecast for production of the fiber by 38% after a drought and poor distribution of pesticides reduced yields. The estimate for the year 2010 was lowered to 250,000 tonnes of seed cotton, compared with an earlier projection of 400,000 tonnes of seed cotton, said Emmanuel Mwangulumba, the Regulatory Officer at the Board.

Orders for textile products to Germany from China, facilitated through the Engineering Capacity Building Programme (ECBP), are expected to raise textile revenue by $26 million more than the $15 million earned during the previous fiscal year 2008.  During the  current year, five German companies: Hahn, Obermeyer, Promtex, Takko and Okamotto, have ordered 11.4 million T-shirts and 4.0  million bed sheets from various textile companies worth $41 million.

Indonesian apparel exports to the US market gained new shares over the second quarter of the year, mainly due to strong sales of knitted products, however, exports to the European Union sharply declined by contrast. The rise of the rupiah over the first half may now further curb Indonesian sales on the global clothing market

According to the Japan Chemical Fibers Association, the nation’s production of man-made fibers during January-June 2009 fell by 30.5% year on year to 394,877 tonnes. The global business slump since the second half of last year has had a great impact on production and producers have been reducing their production.

India's textile industry was left disappointed after the budget as key demands were not met despite some positive announcements for the export-oriented sector, sending shares of textile firms down. The $52 billion labour-intensive industry is estimated to have lost nearly a million jobs over the past year as the lingering economic slowdown hurt demand for apparels and firms cut production to avoid inventory pile-up.

According to the Japan Spinners’ Association, imports of cotton fabrics during January-June 2009 declined by 23.8% from the year before to a historically low level of 150.18 million sq. meters, indicating a decrease in domestic demand for grey goods as a result of the global recession.  Imports from China fell by 29.2%, while those from Indonesia and Pakistan rose by 4.2% and 20.5% respectively.

In Japan, sales of textile machinery dropped 85.6% to 2,363 million yen, mainly because of a drastic decrease in sales of air-jet looms to China. Sales of air-jet looms came to 200 during the first quarter, as compared with 2,600 in the year before. FY 2010 sales of air-jet looms are forecast at 3,000, down 1,000 from the previous fiscal year.

The Japan Spinners’ Association reported that the nation’s imports of cotton yarn during January-June 2009 fell by 27.3% from the year before to 123,421 bales, as the recession decreased demand for cotton yarn in the domestic market.  Imports from China dropped 53.6% to 12,988 bales. Imports from Pakistan (the largest supplier) declined by 15.2%. Imports from India, which had been stable every year decreased to 36.7%.

India’s textiles and clothing export to the US has indicated a growth of over 3.82% in Indian rupee terms and a decline of 8.19% in US dollar terms during April-February’ 2008-09 over the corresponding period of previous year.  This information was given by the Minister of State for Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in the Rajya Sabha, in a written reply to a question by Shri T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

After steadily declining in the past years, Mexican apparel exports are now sharply falling due to the US economic recession and the end of US quotas on Chinese products. Cotton knit shirts and trousers are the most affected categories, as competition from China is surging as well as rapidly rising imports from other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe in the past years.

China’s Hengtong Chemical Fibers Co. ltd under Tongkun Group successfully implements trial runs recently at its new continuous polyester line after around a 15-month's construction. The unit is designed to produce 400kt polyester fibers annually, the largest capacity of the world that one single continuous polyester line could ever output.