Picanol Reports Sharp Sales IncreaseThe Belgium-based Picanol Group reported a 35-percent increase
in first-quarter 2003 sales over year-earlier turnover. Sales totaled 167.4 million euros,
including turnover of 2 million euros by the companys recently acquired subsidiaries, The
Netherlands-based Te Strake Textile BV and Lhenry, France.The operating profit for the quarter
increased nearly 40 percent to 11.25 million euros, while consolidated net profit of 7.6 million
euros represented an 83-percent increase over the first-quarter 2002 net profit of 4.15 million
euros.The company announced a 1-to-40 stock split and the simultaneous movement of shares from the
fixed market to the continuous market, where share quotes were immediately included in the Next
Prime segment and the Next Prime index.Picanol stated it expects little impact from the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Asia on its global sales, but it expects the Chinese
market to make a soft landing in the second half of 2003. Recognizing the SARS impact, coupled with
the euros current strength against the dollar and the yen, the company expects 2003 will end with
sales results equal in strength to those for 2002.
July 2003
Picanol Reports Sharp Sales Increase
US Textile Industry Hosts Singapore Fashion And Apparel Delegation
US Textile Industry Hosts Singapore Fashion And Apparel DelegationA group of Singapore fashion and
apparel company executives and managers recently visited the United States to shop for yarn and
other textile raw materials to use in their products. The mission was the first in a series planned
following the signing earlier this year of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA).Led by
International Enterprise Singapore and the Textile and Fashion Federation of Singapore (TaFf), the
delegation visited locations in New York and the Carolinas. Stateside hosts included the American
Textile Manufacturers Institute, American Yarn Spinners Association (AYSA), Cotton Incorporated,
DuPont, Murata Machinery USA Inc., National Textile Association, South Carolina World Trade Center,
Textile Distributors Association, the US Commercial Service and US manufacturers of cotton and
man-made yarn and fabric. North Carolina Congressman Cass Ballenger also hosted the
delegation.Under USSFTA, duty-free treatment is given to textiles and apparel made with yarns or
fabrics originating in the United States and/or Singapore. The pact gives opportunities to US
producers of fiber, yarn and fabric to export their products to Singapore and use that country as a
distribution base for the Asian continent.According to Chan Heng Chee, the Republic of Singapores
ambassador to the United States, US-Singapore two-way trade in 2002 totaled $1.1 billion, and
current US textile exports to Singapore total $54 million. The upside potential [for cooperative
trade] is immense, he said. Following the mission, Mike Hubbard, executive vice president, AYSA,
Gastonia, N.C., commented, The fact that [the Singapore delegation] had the interest to come here
is very positive. There seemed to be a genuine willingness on the part of both sides to work
together.Patrick Lee, honorary president, TaFf, also was optimistic, particularly with regard to
yarn trade, although he expressed some concerns about price. Price is a challenge, he said, but
some spinners are willing to work with us.Both Hubbard and Lee acknowledged the market will be
difficult because of shipping distances. This is more true for fabrics than for yarns, Lee said.
However, he noted, Some Singapore companies have factories in the Caribbean Basin, so there are
additional opportunities in that region.It was definitely a worthwhile visit, but both sides must
work harder to overcome the challenges, Lee said.
July 2003
Chico39 S Selects Lectra39 S Design Software
Chicos FAS Inc., Fort Meyers, Fla., will automate its design process using Paris-based Lectras U4ia
design software.Automating our design process is an important initiative that will allow us to
continue to provide our customers with appealing fashion brand collections, said Steve Morales
Rodriguez, design studio manager, Chicos. This selection of Lectras U4ia design solution fits
perfectly with Chicos overall strategy and commitment to excellence.
July 2003
Textile Associations Urge Bush To Act On Trade Issues
Textile Associations Urge Bush To Act On Trade IssuesOn July 7th, a broad coalition of 14 fiber and
textile trade associations wrote President Bush urging him to reaffirm his commitment to a healthy
US textile industry by taking “strong, specific actions regarding the enormous threat from China.”
The associations urged the president to implement a “safeguard mechanism” to limit growth of
Chinese imports in 29 recently decontrolled product categories where China has taken more than 40
percent of the US market. The coalition also urged him to reject any tariff preference levels in
the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would enable China to benefit from the agreement.
In addition, they urged the administration to reject a proposal for zero tariffs in the trade
liberalization talks underway at the World Trade Organization.In part, the letter said: “Chinas
enormous growth in 29 recently decontrolled US textile categories suggest the entire US textile and
apparel market will be the next victim. If the administration does not act, a new enormous wave of
plant closures and worker layoffs is certain to occur in the countrys major textile areas. This
will have a profound negative impact on the US struggling manufacturing sector and terminally
weaken the domestic textile industry.”Allen E. Gant Jr., CEO of Glen Raven Inc., said the letter is
part of a “full court press” the industry has underway including grassroots activities, public
education, congressional and executive lobbying activities, and efforts to line up support from
textile manufacturers in other nations that have a share of the US market.Officials of the
association said the US textile and apparel industry has lost 271,100 jobs since January 2001. And
a recent report prepared by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute predicted that an
additional 630,000 U.S. jobs will be lost, 1,300 plants closed and $42 billion in trade shifted
from other countries to China if quotas on textile and apparel products from China are allowed to
expire on December 31, 2004.Signing the letter to the president were representatives of the
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, American Textile Manufacturers Institute, National
Textile Association, American Yarn Spinners Association, American Fiber Manufacturers Association,
National Cotton Council, American Textile Machinery Association, American Sheep Industry
Association, The Carpet and Rug Institute, the Association of Georgias Textile Carpet and Consumer
Product Manufacturers, USA Domestic Manufacturers Committee of the Hosiery Association, Industrial
Fabrics Association International, North Carolina Manufacturers Association and the Textile
Distributors Association.By James A. Morrissey, Washington Correspondent
June 2003
ITMA 2003 SARS Poses No Threat Forum Program Available
ITMA 2003: SARS Poses No Threat, Forum Program AvailableFollowing the decision by two major textile
machinery manufacturers not to exhibit at ITMA 2003 this October because of concerns over Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), exhibition organizers have released a statement reassuring show
exhibitors and visitors that the disease poses no threat in the United Kingdom (UK).SARS is not and
has never been a matter for concern in the UK. There has never been any restriction on incoming
visitors to the UK as a result of SARS, and there are no active cases of SARS in the UK, said Andy
Bird, ITMA exhibition director. The idea that there is a risk or threat to the successful running
of ITMA 2003, its visitors or exhibitors is wholly unrealistic and factually incorrect.According to
the statement, Bernard Terrat, president of ITMA sponsor CEMATEX, stated the groups support for
ITMA 2003 in Birmingham, and rejected SARS as an acceptable reason for cancellation. Additional
support for the Birmingham venue was confirmed by Lukas Sigrist, Ph.D., secretary general of the
Swissmem Textile Machinery Division. [T]he [Swiss Textile Machinery Association] board sees no
reason for a postponement or cancellation of ITMA 2003. Moreover, the board emphasizes the
importance of ITMA as the global leading event, and it confirms its consent with the CEMATEX
exhibition policy, Sigrist said.While we are sorry to lose these companies, plans for ITMA 2003
continue to progress well, with the latest figures demonstrating a marked increase in both visitor
pre-registration figures and countries represented by exhibitors, Bird said. We remain very
confident that ITMA 2003 will prove a very successful event.In other news, the ITMA 2003 Organizing
Committee has published the program for the ITMA Forum, New Frontiers in Textiles Moving
MarketsandStrategic Innovations, scheduled for October 23-25. The forum will be presented for the
first time at this years ITMA exhibition (See Textile World News, TW, May 2003). The program is
available at the ITMA website: www.itma.com/forum. In addition, advance questions to the forum
speakers may be posted on-line.
July 2003
Radici Group Signs Ingeo Agreement
Radici Group Signs Ingeo AgreementThe Radici Group, Italy, has signed a master license agreement
with Cargill Dow LLC, Minnetonka, Minn., to produce and sell Cargill Dows Ingeo fibers in
Europe.Ingeo, made from polylactide, a polymer derived from 100-percent annually renewable
resources, is a brand concept based on the sustainable principles of economic viability, social
responsibility and environmental soundness.Radici will develop and produce filament textiles using
undyed, solution-dyed and package-dyed Ingeo fibers. The textiles will be branded as Ingeo fiber
and sold to accredited home furnishings, apparel and other textile products manufacturers. The
company can supply a broad range of filament yarns to downstream producers for sampling or
commercial programs.
July 2003
Tim Eynon, Cargill Dow LLC (left), and Luciano Radici, The Radici Group
Joint Venture To Produce Recycled PET Carpet Backing
Italy-based Freudenberg Politex, a Freudenberg Nonwovens business group, and Germany-based
Rethmann/Rhenus, a disposal logistics and waste separation company, have formed first*PET, a joint
venture to recycle plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) soda bottles into raw materials, which
in turn will be made into primary carpet backings.Jean Skinner, a spokesperson for Freudenberg,
said trial rolls have been delivered to customers, and actual production will begin this month in
Mannheim, Germany.Freudenberg claims the joint venture will be the first company in the world to
supply primary carpet backings that contain 25- to 100-percent post-consumer recycled content.
July 2003
Glenro Regenex RTOs Destroy VOCs
GlenroInc., Paterson, N.J., reports its new Regenex regenerative thermal oxiders (RTOs) can achieve
guaranteed efficiencies of more than 99 percent for volatile organic compound (VOC) destruction in
manufacturing process exhaust streams. The compact, adaptable systems provide high heat recovery
and process application flexibility. They are suitable for low-VOC applications where
catalyst-destroying chemicals in the solvent mixture prevent the use of a catalyst, catalyst
replacement is uneconomical, or numerous products using different solvent mixtures and exhaust air
volumes run on the same line.A common combustion chamber connects two or three heat exchange beds.
Heat is stored in the mass of the heat exchange media, which also allows air to pass. Reversing the
airflow through the heat exchange beds conserves combustion heat within the RTO, allowing up to 95
percent recovery and recycling of the heat combustion.
July 2003
Vietnam Deal Can Provide Leverage
W
illis C. Moore, chairman of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), recently
addressed the 95th annual meeting of the Southern Textile Association in Savannah, Ga. Moore gave
specific details of the recently negotiated trade agreements with Vietnam.
While Department of Commerce (DOC) Under Secretary for International Trade Grant Aldonas was
assuring the textile industry that the US Trade Representative’s office would “hold the line,” the
deal was cut to allow Vietnamese textile imports to rise to $1.65 billion this year — almost double
last year’s import levels.
Moore said he couldn’t believe this deal was signed, even after evidence emerged that some
imports labeled as Vietnamese were actually transshipped from China. He indicated ATMI had
requested the negotiations be forestalled until the extent of the transshipments were determined.
According to Moore, this entire deal is an embarrassment to members of the Bush
administration. He feels now is the time for the industry to leverage this to get government action
on a number of critical issues. He contends the industry must speak with a single voice and pick
the battles that can be won.
For example, the DOC took almost 16 months to publish the rules governing the textile
safeguard provisions, which China accepted as part of its agreement to join the World Trade
Organization. These provisions were to allow US textile manufacturers the right to petition for
quotas if they could show imports were causing “market disruption.” According to ATMI, China’s
share of the textile import market has increased from 7 percent to 21 percent since 2001. Moore
contends ample proof exists that the market has been disrupted, and it is time for the government
to “stand and deliver.”
Moore also indicated it is time to push the administration to live up to its commitments
concerning the reduction of illegal transshipments. He pointed out that the Vietnamese Trade
Agreement was finalized based on recent trade levels. In fact, spot checks by the US Customs
Service indicated a large volume of Vietnamese imports may be transshipments from China.
The House Appropriations Committee on Homeland Security just approved a bill to provide an
additional $9.5 million to Customs to hire 70 additional personnel to enforce trade regulations.
Moore feels the timing is right for the industry to demand an explanation as to why the
administration has not lived up to its promises of tougher enforcement and to help get this
additional funding for Customs into the 2004-05 budget.
Prices Stable Despite Rising Inventories
Retailers are increasing discounts to clear excess Spring inventories. In fact, most retailers
report apparel inventories have grown by more than 8 percent during the first quarter, while sales
were up less than 3 percent for the same period.
The problem has spread to almost all segments of manufacturing, as orders fell by 2.4 percent
last month, according to the DOC.
A number of yarn manufacturers are operating plants at well below capacity, and took an
extended Memorial Day holiday in an effort to work down their inventories. As one major spinning
executive said, “Our knitting business is off, but our weaving business has simply disappeared
since May.”
A plant manager commented, “We are doing business for customers we wouldn’t have looked at a
year ago — not big orders, but you put enough of them together and at least you keep running.”
Despite sluggish demand, yarn prices remain relatively steady, reflecting what is happening
in the general economy as measured by the Flat Rate Consumer Price Index reading for May.
However, the Labor Department also reported the Producer Price Index actually fell 0.3
percent in May. This has some economists concerned about the possibility of deflation, which would
represent a serious threat to the already weak economy.
Yarn manufacturers report margins are still thin. However, they are being helped by the lower
prices for cotton and polyester.
As one major fiber producer joked, “We could get more for a pound of fill dirt than a pound
of polyester.”
July 2003
Dunleary Named Dow Reichold Distributor
Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based
Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex LLC has appointed Baltimore-based Dunleary Inc. distributor for its
specialty latexes used in nonwovens, adhesives and construction products applications. The product
line includes styrene butadiene, acrylic, styrene acrylic and butadiene acrylonitrile latexes.
Dunleary will represent Dow Reichhold in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
June 2003
