The Indian government has imposed a duty of Rs 2,500 per tonne on raw cotton and 3% of the free-on-board value of cotton waste exports in order to moderate prices of the commodity in the domestic market and help the local textiles industry. The Central Board of Excise and Customs has notified the export duty on the natural fibre, which has seen a sharp rise in prices in the recent few months. The export duty has been levied for six months.

Zimbabwe has doubled the producer price for cotton, said Jabulani Gwaringa, an economist with the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union. He said farmers will receive 30 U.S. cents a kilogram (2.2 pounds) for the lowest-grades of cotton, up from 15 cents a kilogram last year. Zimbabwe’s cotton is grown mainly by small-scale farmers.

Dr Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh State Minister for Environment and Forest said that reopening of the closed jute mills would benefit the economy. It will also generate employment while salvaging the country from environmental pollution. He also added that, owing to the eco-friendly nature of jute, a hike has been noticed in its demand across the globe.

China will continue to shut down outdated capacity in major industrial sectors to reduce pollution, save energy, and upgrade industry. The sectors include tannery, printing and dyeing. Outdated capacity in the textile industry sectors are amongst those which the country plans to close.  Before 2011, these equipments as follows are to be eliminated as outdated industrial capacity.

The India Central government has decided to suspend the duty concession of 7.5% available to cotton yarn exporters under the Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme, as part of a measure to moderate the price of the commodity in the domestic market. Further, it decided that steps be taken to ensure a carry forward of at least 50 lakh bales of raw cotton at the beginning of the next cotton season.

Turkmenistan President allows De La Rue to produce high-quality paper for banknotes from Turkmen cotton. Turkmen cotton will meet all international standards for the production of paper for banknotes, said James Hussey. He said ever since Turkmenistan achieved independence, De La Rue has been in liaison with the government for bank security papers and national currency.

A Bangladesh based company, J and J Industries Limited is all set to establish a garments accessories manufacturing industry in Chitagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) by investing US $1 million. The project will offer employment to a large number of Bangladeshi workers producing variety of garment accessories. 

An engineering sector Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Shimoga has been converted into textile zone. Indian large and medium industries Minister Murugesh R Nirani, in a written reply to the assembly, said the state government has decided to drop the engineering sector SEZ as no company came forward to set up the project there. The entire 250 acres of land earlier proposed for SEZ has been allotted to Bangalore-based Shahi Export Pvt Ltd for setting up facilities for weaving, textile and ready-made garments with an investment of Rs 533.19 crore.

Bangladesh textile millers protested the government's move to release commercial yarn imported from India through land ports, saying the step would affect the local industry adversely. The Textile Ministry has hurriedly taken up steps to import yarn from India on the plea of its high price in the local market without considering the interests of the local industry, said Abdul Hai Sarker, President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA). He said the yarn production capacity of the Bangladeshi textile mills is 1,600 million kg annually, but now the annual production has come down to 800-900 million kg due to severe power and gas crises.

An expert in skill development bemoaned the fact that, the Indian textile sector lacked the skills, necessary to take advantage of the prospects thrown up by the global textile industry, particularly in the field of technical textiles and attributed the same to absence of fragmentation and vertical integration the most, said G. Somasundaram, Head, Industry Linkages (Skill Development), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Cluster (IL&FS). He said that, in the next ten years, there will be a requirement of more than three million people by the textile value-chain, so there is an urgent need for develop a synergy between industry and educational institutions to come together and offer skill development courses.

In a research, scientists revealed that women exposed to chemicals and pollutants in textile industry prior to their mid-30s are more prone to breast cancer later in life. Researchers at Robert-Sauve Occupational Health Research Institute in Montreal, Canada established that women exposed to textile-industry chemicals in early 30s have an increased risk of breast cancer post-menopause.

Due to its high added value namely in exports, the textile and clothing sector represents 37% of the Tunisian industry and contributes to 36% of exports and manufacturing industries, said Tunisian Export Promotion Center “CEPEX”.

This year, the production target of Bangladesh cotton has been set at 18,760 tonne from 12,792 hectares of land in the division, while last year this target was set at 15,000 tonnes of cotton from 9,700 hectares. Whereas, for the country as a whole, cotton production was targeted at 49,000 tonnes from 40,000 hectares, as per Cotton Development Board’s (CDB) report.

India's cotton 2009-10 exports are likely to rise to 8 million bales, up 129% on year, drive by strong demand from China and Bangladesh. The country had exported 3.5 million bales in 2008-09 and the government initially estimated exports of 5.5 million bales for the year.