The
ripples of globalization, trade liberalization and the quota-free era
seem to reshape our new textile economy and weave a promising global
social fabric. How we integrate to the new textile economy from low-cost
competitions to changing markets with extreme economic inequality is a
challenging opportunity to ensure the stability, prosperity and security
of our future.
With abundance of cheap workforce and high quality jute
fibre, Bangladesh's Textiles and Clothing (T&C) sector, accounting
for 76% of the total export earnings, offers competitive growth
potential in the free-for-all mall. Bangladesh has only 2.6% of global
market share and aims to increase its export volume to US$ 10 billion in
the near future. As an LDC origin, Bangladeshi T&C products enjoy
duty free access to Canada, Australia, Japan and Norway.
Economics of Exploitations
The global textile and Clothing (T&C) trade is estimated at
approximately US $1 billion a day. Our passion for fashion is woven in
Bangladesh at less than US $0.25 hourly wage, in Canada at US$13.59, in
the US at US $15.13, and in Switzerland at US $24.12. Bangladesh offers
the cheapest workforce with unique growth potential. Asia, led by China
and India, has the largest textile economy and workforce. Low-cost
competitions and a natural phenomenon that a product will find a
profitable place are expanding developing countries' textile industries
exponentially.
Eco-friendly Textiles
The growing environmental concerns seem to reinforce our choice for
eco-friendly process-product-technology and diversify natural and
synthetic fibres. The advancement in science and technology, especially
biotechnology, has led to sophisticated natural organic fibres with
superior properties, high yields, and design value-
Table 1. Raw cotton: actual & projected production/mill consumption & export/import
|
Actual Average per Year 000 tons |
Projected 000 ton |
Growth Rates % per Year |
|
1989-1991 |
1999-2001 |
2010 |
1989-91 to 1999-01 |
1999-01 to 2010 |
|
Prod |
Cons |
Prod |
Cons |
Prod |
Cons |
Prod |
Cons |
Prod |
Cons |
| World |
19 030 |
18 629 |
19 901 |
19 824 |
23 095 |
23 107 |
0.4 |
0.6 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
| Developing |
12 382 |
12 516 |
13 099 |
15 619 |
16 160 |
18 930 |
0.6 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
| Developed |
6 648 |
6 406 |
6 803 |
4 316 |
6 935 |
4 177 |
0.2 |
-3.9 |
0.2 |
-0.3 |
|
Exports |
Imports |
Exports |
Imports |
Exports |
Imports |
Exports |
Imports |
Exports |
Imports |
| World |
5 686 |
5 719 |
6 049 |
6 007 |
6 530 |
6 646 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.8 |
1.0 |
| Developing |
2 284 |
2 940 |
1 961 |
4 131 |
2 108 |
4 743 |
-1.5 |
3.5 |
0.7 |
1.4 |
| Developed |
3 189 |
2 800 |
4 066 |
1 876 |
4 422 |
1 903 |
2.5 |
-3.9 |
0.8 |
0.1 |
Source: ICAC Bulletin (CD-ROM) June 2002. Compilation: TTS.
Table
1 compares global cotton production, mill consumption, exports and
imports scenario from 1989 and forecast to 2010 with average growth rate
per year. China, US and India are the top three cotton producers. The
mixing, blending (e.g. Jutton) and hybrid configurations (e.g.
unidirectional epoxy impregnated composites) of natural and synthetic
fibres will enhance performance-properties interrelationships. We
foresee more environmental friendly natural fibres (e.g. Jute, Flax,
Coir, Banana fibres), natural dyestuffs and chemicals to colour our
passion for fashion.
The Power of Innovations
Imagine a wide variety of naturally coloured cotton produced like
today's yellow watermelon to skip expensive dyeing and finishing
processes. Think what a cost-effective gain it would be to design
eco-friendly process-product-technology with biocompatible, biostable
and biodegradable fibres. A Canadian biotechnology company envisioned
spinning recombinant spider silk fibre, BioSteel and invented a
micro-spinning technology that could spin fine micro-suture filaments
from as little as 20 L spin solution. The results showed promise and
demanded further research to examine polymer consistency,
cost-effectiveness and commercial reality.
Trends and Tendencies
Developing countries export more clothing than textiles, as clothing is
relatively more labour-intensive to produce and labour is comparatively
abundant domestically. Conversely, these countries import more textiles
than clothing as textiles are relatively capital-intensive and capital
is relatively scarce domestically. Industrialized countries export more
of this capital-intensive textile than they do apparel, and import more
of this labour-intensive clothing than they do textiles. Facing the
future, they are turning to technically advanced textiles.
Global
average per capita fibre consumption is approximately 10 kg per annum.
Global fibre production hit 67 million metric tons in 2004. DRA
estimates that the consumption of technical textiles around the world
will be 23 million tons per annum by 2010. Mobiltech, Indutech and
Sporttech will capture 55-57% of the technical textiles market share.
T&C sectors will continue to lose market shares to offshore low-cost
suppliers. Developing countries will increase their market shares
unless extreme global inequality and unfair free-trade pacts are
eradicated. Only then could a promising global textile economy be woven.
Canada
imported 60% of textiles and 62% of clothing in 2004, while Canada-made
textile and apparel satisfied 70% of the domestic demand in 1989.
Facing this reality, Canada will launch a new program, the
Transformative Technologies Program, which will share Canadian
industries' costs of innovation and technology adoption projects. Its
goal is to ensure that leading-edge industrial research continues to
grow and that Canadian companies are competitive in the global economy.
Demands and Dynamics
Technically advanced textile sectors seem to grow immensely as our
quest for a better quality of life continues. The labour-intensive
T&C sectors count on continual capital investment, upgrading
knowledge and technology to further innovations, productivity and
competitiveness. Investment, training, innovations and continual
improvement visions are crucial to create a competitive niche market and
high performance work environment.
Fast-paced
globalization and trade liberalization have forced labour intensive
textile industries to knit cross-cultural business for exploiting global
market potential. The textile fibre industries will continue to shift,
incrementally, to the cheap labour-intensive developing areas of Asia,
Africa/Middle East and Latin America, from the advanced countries, in
order to capitalize on competitive cost advantages.
Innovations
proliferate at every phase of the textile supply chain, from upstream
fibre production to final products. The primary market drivers of change
are: innovation in fiber performance, comfort, aesthetic
characteristics and smart functional textiles. Next-generation high-tech
artificial fibres will continue to provide cost-effective solutions to
specialized applications.
Technical/industrial
textiles represent a significant portion of the total textile activity
in North America. It accounted for 30% of end-use fibre consumption in
the region (around 3.5 million metric tons) and was worth $17 billion in
2000. Because of the industry's strong growth and demanding technical
requirements, many segments offer long-term market potential.
Enhancing
performance, customer satisfaction and quality baselines continually
are instrumental to staying competitive and innovative. Integrating
interdisciplinary innovations will advance multifunctional textile
process-product-technology design. Total solution strategies, service
& technology systems, and continual learning attitudes are crucial
to develop cross-cultural business and long-term partnerships in the new
textile economy.
Dr.
Shafiul Islam, CText FTI, is the President, the Institute of Textile
Science (textilescience.ca), and a consultant of TexTek Solutions
(textek.weebly.com). Reach him at textek@gmail.com.
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