UK company to manufacture shoes in India

London (PTI): The new owner of an ailing Leicester-based shoe company has announced that under the new management, shoes will now be manufactured in India.

Equity Shoes, a 123-year-old company, was closed last month and went into voluntary liquidation after failing to find a buyer. However, it has now been bought by York-based Pavers Shows.

Stuart Paver, managing director of Pavers Shoes, said,

"We are continuing to sell the shoes from Leicester, as well as design and develop them in the city. The manufacturing will be transferred to India."

Paver said his company had been dealing with Equity for the past 30 years and knew the business very well.

Officials at Equity Shoes, which was running as a co-operative, blamed its demise on falling sales and competition from cheap imports.

Duncan Harrod, spokesman for the Community Union, which represented Equity workers, said: "We are always happy to see footwear jobs safeguarded in the UK, but it's a shame Equity shoes will not continue to be made in the UK."

Source: http://www.hindu.com/

India corn futures seen lower on poor export demand

MUMBAI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - India corn futures may fall on Tuesday due to poor export demand, analysts said.

India has exported about 300,000 tonnes of corn so far in 2008/09 marketing year which began in October.

India exported about 3 million tonnes of the commodity in 2007/08.

Exports are being pinched by lower-priced offerings from competitors like the U.S and Brazil amid the demand slowdown in major economies, said a large trader.

The March contract NMZH9 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange last ended at 825.5 rupees per 100 kg.

Source: http://in.reuters.com/

Japan and China try to stop rout

JAPAN and China are considering taking fresh steps to halt a plunge in share prices and revitalise their reconomies.

China's ruling Communist Party elite has vowed to take a slew of measures to respond to an economic slowdown that it says will make 2009 the most difficult year in nearly a decade.

And Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano says stocks are close to their lowest levels in 26 years.

"Excessive stock falls are undesirable. The government will consider what it can do if stock prices fall too much," Mr Yosano said.

Mr Yosano, who is also the Economics Minister, did not say what additional measures the Japanese government might take.

"Stock prices must in principle be determined by market forces," he said.

But excessive falls would hurt banks, insurance companies and other firms, added Yosano, who took over the finance post last week after Shoichi Nakagawa resigned amid claims he was drunk at a G7 press conference.

Japan's government has already announced a series of steps to stimulate Asia's largest economy, including a plan to hand Y2 trillion ($A32.81 billion) back to the public to kick-start consumer spending.

But analysts say the measures are expected to have a limited impact on the overall economy, which is reeling from a steep drop in exports.

Japan's Nikkei stock index fell 2.60 per cent in morning trade on Tuesday after Wall Street hit near 12-year lows on investor disappointment over Washington's strategy for rescuing ailing banks.

At one point the Nikkei briefly slipped below a 26-year closing low of 7,162.90 points seen on October 27, 2008.

China's politburo issued a statement during which the party outlined its broad priorities ahead of next month's annual parliamentary session.

"We will increase large-scale government investment, implement and readjust a plan to revive industries, make great efforts to boost innovation, and greatly enhance the level of social security," the politburo said in a press release.

The statement followed a meeting of the 25-member politburo presided over by President Hu Jintao.

The party has signalled in recent days it intends to take measures during the National People's Congress session, beginning on March 5, to cushion the blow from the slowest economic growth in nearly 20 years.

China's growth slowed to 6.8 per cent in the final quarter of last year, down from the double-digit expansion seen for most of this decade.

The global financial crisis has particularly hit the nation's vital manufacturing and export sectors, leaving at least 20 million migrant workers jobless.

This has raised concerns of social unrest, and the politburo alluded to such worries in its statement.

"The tasks of reform, development and stability are quite onerous," it said.

The statement offered no specific policy proposals but said the government would seek to increase domestic demand, promote industrial restructuring, "improve living standards and promote social harmony".

The grim warning is the latest of several from China's leadership, which in November unveiled a spending package worth $US580 billion ($A902.72 billion) by the end of 2010 to cushion the impact of the crisis.

Premier Wen Jiabao said this month that China must take "extraordinary measures" to boost the economy beyond that package, according to the Financial Times.

The People's Daily, the Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper, also warned this month about possible unrest.

It said authorities must "control factors that could cause instability or problems like housing, the stock market, failed companies, mass layoffs and migrant workers going home to the countryside".

Source: http://www.news.com.au/

Japan textile market to grow

The textile sector may double its market share in Japan by 2010, helped by the Indonesia-Japan economic partnership agreement (EPA).

“Our exports to Japan in 2008 were around US$650 million, we hope that the value will increase to around $1 billion to $1.5 billion by the end of 2010,” Industry Ministry’s director general for metal, machinery, textile and miscellaneous industries, Ansari Bukhari said Monday.

He was speaking at a seminar on the Indonesia-Japan EPA.

The value of last year’s textile exports to Japan was about 7.8 percent higher than the one recorded in 2007, which was about $603 million.

As for the target for 2009, the industry targets exports to Japan will reach around $700 million.
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) hopes that the IJ-EPA, a free trade agreement between the two countries signed last year, will facilitate that Indonesia’s textile industry can achieve ambitious targets even during difficult times.

“We hope that with the IJ-EPA (in place), it will be easier for us to take a greater share of the Japanese market, now dominated by China,” API chairman Benny Soetrisno said.

Ministry data shows China dominating the Japanese textile market with a market share over 75 percent.

Benny also hopes that with IJ-EPA the Japanese government can help Indonesian textile business owners to access credit to help fund capital expenditure on Japanese machinery and technology, especially as Japanese textile machinery exports declined by more than 25 percent last year due to the crisis.

“Japan needs to provide us with better payment schemes to rehabilitate our textile machinery. In return, Japan will be able to improve its machinery exports and prevent employee dismissals,” Benny said.

In common with Japanese industry, the textile industry in Indonesia faces a less than favorable period, but the IJ-EPA gives an advantage.

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said textile exports would certainly decline overall during the crisis.
“It is very likely that the industry’s overall volume of exports will decline in 2009 because of the global crisis, but hopefully the value of exports will not fall below $8 billion.”

The value of the country’s textile exports was estimated at US$10.8 billion last year (2008), a modest improvement on the $10.3 billion recorded in 2007.

“Japan is the third largest importer of our textiles after the US and the EU countries. There will always be a need for clothing in four-season countries like Japan. We also believe we will still be able to export our products to (EU and US), but not as much as we used to,” Fahmi said.

“To improve our market share in the Japanese market, we need to improve our market research as well. Japanese consumers have high standards on quality and designs, and their tastes change constantly.”

It was felt the IJ-EPA, along with access to special credits, would favor greater exports to Japan even if exports to the EU and US might fall.

Fahmi said the government is also looking at new markets in the countries of the Middle-East region. “The crisis impact is not so severe in the oil rich countries,” he said. (hdt)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/

'Slowdown an opportunity for steel sector'

Kolkata: The current economic downturn provides the steel industry with an opportunity to expand capacity and strengthen its distribution network, according to Shoeb Ahmed, Director (Commercial), Steel authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

Addressing an interactive session on future challenges before Indian industry, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Saturday, Ahmed pointed out that SAIL was already active on 10-million tonne (mt) capacity expansion and had joined hands with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd to strengthen its distribution network.

“Earlier, we had a network of 37 stockyards and 600 distributors, now expanded with the appointment of 2,500 dealers and agents with the plan to have a total of 5,000 shortly,” Ahmed said. “We must make steel available at the doorstep of the common people”.

More India business stories

As for capacity expansion, his view is that it could be both brownfield and greenfield type, with an accent on production of more value-added items.

Turnaround

Quoting international experts, he pointed out that globally, the steel industry was unlikely to achieve a turnaround before the last quarter of 2010 or even early 2011. In December, global steel production at 84.4 mt was lower by more than 24 per cent as compared to production in the same month of the previous year, and between October-December 2008, the drop was 20 per cent, at 271 mt.

However, the situation in India would not be as bad, thanks to massive government investments being planned for infrastructure development, though the government investments would not be forthcoming immediately, but only after installing the new government at the Centre.

Interest outlook

“The Railways have huge plans and with it, there will be more roads, highways, ports and power projects, boosting the demand for steel,” he observed. “The interest rate too will continue to remain low and on the fiscal side, we, the steel producers, have urged the government to slap higher duties on imported steel”.

Source: http://sify.com/finance/

Reliance will import 25% less crude from Iran

Dubai/Singapore: Reliance Industries will import about 25 per cent less crude oil on contract from Iran in 2009, sources familiar with the supply deal said on Monday.

Reliance will buy 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude on term contract this year, down from 120,000 bpd in 2008, oil industry sources said.

It was unclear why India's largest refiner would cut contract purchases from the world's fourth-largest oil exporter in a year when Reliance needs more crude to feed its giant new 580,000 barrels per day (bpd) Jamnagar refinery.

Source: http://sify.com/finance/equity/

Trade promotions to be increased

Trade promotion and market research will be stepped up to help companies expand their overseas markets and meet the export growth target of 13 percent, said the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said that in the context of the current global economic crisis and a contraction in export markets, trade promotion is a top priority if the export target of US$70.85 billion is to be achieved.

Vietrade, the State-run trade promotion agency, signed an agreement with the British Trade and Investment Agency last month to strengthen bilateral economic relations, said its head Do Thang Hai.

The agency is also preparing to sign similar agreements with Japan and the Republic of Korea, he said.

Last year it signed agreements with the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries and Switzerland’s Import Promotion Programme, he added.

Vietrade is also stepping up its market research to build a database of exports and imports and workshops, such as exporting to the Middle East and Africa, will also be run to provide enterprises with basic information on business customs and practices in each region.

Bien said that enterprises and industry associations should co-operate closely with the ministry to implement national-level trade promotion programmes, 44 of which have been approved so far.

Tran Quoc Manh, general director of wood furniture producer Sadaco, said that exporters need to be proactive when scouting for new markets and not wait for contracts to fall into their laps.

However, they also need to study their traditional markets and introduce more original products, he added.

The Sai Gon Trading Group (Satra) said that it had asked its member companies to be more active in promoting trade.

General Director Huynh Van Minh said that besides looking for new markets, the company was also trying to expand its traditional markets like the US, Canada, and Japan.

Source: http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/

Trade promotions to be increased

Trade promotion and market research will be stepped up to help companies expand their overseas markets and meet the export growth target of 13 percent, said the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said that in the context of the current global economic crisis and a contraction in export markets, trade promotion is a top priority if the export target of US$70.85 billion is to be achieved.

Vietrade, the State-run trade promotion agency, signed an agreement with the British Trade and Investment Agency last month to strengthen bilateral economic relations, said its head Do Thang Hai.

The agency is also preparing to sign similar agreements with Japan and the Republic of Korea, he said.

Last year it signed agreements with the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries and Switzerland’s Import Promotion Programme, he added.

Vietrade is also stepping up its market research to build a database of exports and imports and workshops, such as exporting to the Middle East and Africa, will also be run to provide enterprises with basic information on business customs and practices in each region.

Bien said that enterprises and industry associations should co-operate closely with the ministry to implement national-level trade promotion programmes, 44 of which have been approved so far.

Tran Quoc Manh, general director of wood furniture producer Sadaco, said that exporters need to be proactive when scouting for new markets and not wait for contracts to fall into their laps.

However, they also need to study their traditional markets and introduce more original products, he added.

The Sai Gon Trading Group (Satra) said that it had asked its member companies to be more active in promoting trade.

General Director Huynh Van Minh said that besides looking for new markets, the company was also trying to expand its traditional markets like the US, Canada, and Japan.

Source: http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/