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posted Sep 2, 2019, 12:24 AM by Balasubramanian P




Scams in International Textile Business

posted Jul 7, 2019, 11:23 PM by Balasubramanian P   [ updated Jul 7, 2019, 11:25 PM ]

In the month of June , we had an attempted Scam , so we thought of sharing this information to all our business partners so they can be aware in their business as well. 

We usually have set of Vietnam Suppliers for Various Spun Yarns . On beginning of June , we have booked couple of containers of  spun Yarns with the TT payment terms with a factory based in Central Vietnam. We have received the contract copy from factory with bank details of a local Vietnamese bank from their official email id and all was ok. 

After few days, we received an email from same email id with a revised contract copy stating that the bank has been changed to "Barclays Bank PLC " based in  Leicestershire with beneficiery name as the "Shipper Name".  

Very important points to be noted : 
  1. Contract is exactly looked similar as per the previous contract we received from factory including contract number , date etc., 
  2. Item described also same with same price 
  3. All emails looked extremely genuine. 

But , we had a doubt that why a Vietnamese factory should have a account Leicestershire. We immediately contacted the factory by email as well as by Phone whether this is correct or not. We got a reply from factory by email , yes the bank account change is genuine and you can transfer the money. But by phone factory confirmed that this scam/spam and the revised contract has been sent by some scammer. They immediately requested their IT people to check their email security and we have also checked on our side. We both couldn't find any irregularities or breaches in the email security.

On further analysis , we found out they used a technique called “From” Spoofing and more details can be found in this website. ( Disclaimer : for Academedic knowledge only , we owe no responsiblity in the link you click. Thanks. )

Good thing is since we have contacted shipper directly by phone/whatsapp we avoided sending  money to this bank account. 

However it still remains a mystery : 
  1. How a scammer able to receive the contract copy and all other relevant details. 
  2. How a scammer can receive funds at a Leicestershire bank with beneficiery name same as a vietnamese company?
Sadly, even now, we have no answer to these questions. 

So, friends , let this be a learning to all of us and please be aware of such scams and double check when we are sending payments to avoid. We publish this on goodwill and for awareness.

Thank you. 

TEXCORP INTERNATIONAL, PT 
INDONESIA 

SIMTA SPINDLE TAPES

posted Feb 18, 2019, 1:35 AM by Balasubramanian P   [ updated Feb 18, 2019, 1:40 AM ]

BobbinBobbinBobbin
When it comes to spindle Tapes, it is always SIMTA that comes first to a quality conscious spinners mind. The reason is not hard to find. Excellent performence even at 25,000 RPM.

We at SIMTA strive hard to acheive perfection in every sphere of our activity. Our competitive strength lies in our ability to acheive excellence in everything we do.

Our indigenous expertise has won us international acceptance. We are the leading exporters with 60% of our production exported to more than 50 countries.We have made reliability, a reality through quality.

Most of the leading textile mills have one thing in common: SIMTA Spindle Tapes. That's an honour for our commitment to quality and our strict adherence to international standards.

PROPERTIESSS-1SS-2SS-3SS-4SS-5SS-55
THICKNESS (MM)0.560.750.601.000.611.10
BREAKING STRENGTH (± 5 Kgs)71958217585190
ELONGATION (%) AT 1 Kg0.5250.4900.4900.3700.4900.370
2 Kg1.0501.0000.9750.5360.9750.536
3 Kg1.6501.5001.3500.8061.3500.806
WT. PER MTR (Gm / Cm)5.007.005.1011.55.2011.5
NORMAL PERIPHERAL FORCE PER UNIT WIDTH (Kg/Cm)3.56.54.28.54.38.6
OPERATING TEMPERATURE (°C) CONTINUOUS-20 TO 100-20 TO 100-20 TO 100-20 TO 100-20 TO 100-20 TO 100
INTERMITTENT-30 TO 170-30 TO 170-30 TO 170-30 TO 170-30 TO 170-30 TO 170
CO-EFFICIENT OF FRICTION ON STEEL PULLEY SIDE (Μ)0.550.550.700.700.700.70
WHARVE SIDE (Μ)0.350.350.350.350.350.35
LENGTH TOLERANCE (%)±0.50±0.40±0.40±0.40±0.40±0.40
WIDTH TOLERANCE (MM)±0.25±0.25±0.25±0.25±0.25±0.25
APPLICATIONSPG & DBG SPINDLE RPM UP TO 20,000TFO AND HEAVY DOUBLINGSPG & DBG SPINDLE RPM UP TO 25,000TFO AND HEAVY DOUBLING(HIGH SPEED)SPG & DBG SPINDLE RPM UP TO 25,000TFO AND HEAVY DOUBLING(HIGH SPEED)

Businesses Urge Indonesian Gov't to Sign Free Trade Deals

posted Sep 12, 2017, 8:19 PM by Balasubramanian P



11 September 2017

Indonesian entrepreneurs urge the central government to sign more bilateral free trade agreements because Indonesia's export products currently miss out on competitiveness as regional counterparts - such as those in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam - can enjoy little or zero import duties under such agreements with specific trading partners, while the Indonesian government remains hesitant to be engaged in these deals.

Basically there is one reason why the Indonesian government is not keen on signing free trade agreements (FTA), comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA), comprehensive economic cooperation agreements (CECA) or preferential trade agreements (PTA). The reason is that Indonesia is regarded not competitive enough to compete with foreign counterparts on the international market (especially in terms of manufactured goods), while at the same time the huge 260 million population of Indonesia (which is characterized by growing per capita GDP) would become a great market for (cheaper yet higher quality) foreign products imported under the trade deal.

Hence, the government fears these trade deals will only result in a huge inflow of foreign products, while the rise in Indonesian exports would be limited. Therefore, Indonesia is currently only involved in two bilateral trade deals: (1) Indonesia-Japan EPA (2008) and (2) Indonesia-Pakistan PTA (2013).

Hariyadi Sukamdani, Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said there exist differences among Indonesian ministries about whether it is positive or negative to engage in trade deals. Meanwhile, Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, Vice Chairwoman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), says the lack of will of the Indonesian government to sign these deals is the logical consequence of Indonesia being late in opening up investment for (foreign) investors. This has resulted in limited investment in, for example, Indonesia's manufacturing industry and therefore these products lack competitiveness (in terms of price and quality) compared to products manufactured by regional counterparts (in Malaysia and Vietnam)


One sector that is negatively affected is Indonesia's textile and textile products sector. In full-year 2016 Indonesia shipped USD $12.3 billion worth of textile and textile products to the European Union (EU). Vietnam's textile and textile product exports to the EU, however, totaled USD $30 billion in the same year, a much more impressive figure. Kamdani said this difference is primarily caused by Indonesian textile exporters having to face import tariffs up to 10 percent, while Vietnam can ship these products to the EU for 0 percent import duties under the Vietnam-EU FTA.

Other examples are processed chocolate products (such as cocoa butter, cocoa cake or cocoa powder). For shipments to the EU, Indonesia competes with shipments from the African continent. While Indonesian exporters need to face import duties up to 9 percent, African counterparts are not disturbed by import duties, thus making the African products more competitive while the quality of the product is more-or-less the same.

Rosan Roeslani, Chairman of Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), sees the same affect in the palm oil sector. Recently, shipments of Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) to Turkey declined significantly because Turkish importers shifted to Malaysian CPO suppliers as they can enjoy lower import duties due to the FTA that was signed between Malaysia and Turkey in 2015.

The Indonesian government does understand the importance of partnering in free trade deals and is therefore in negotiations for various deals including Indonesia-EU FTA, Indonesia-EFTA CEPA, Indonesia-Australia CEPA, Indonesia-Chile CEPA, Indonesia-India CECA, Indonesia-Iran PTA, and Indonesia-Turkey PTA. However, these negotiations - if successful at all - require plenty of time as the government is divided about the matter and concerned about the negative impact (a potential surge in imports).


Source: Bisnis Indonesia

Clarification on closed Mills in Indonesia - API INDONESIA

posted Sep 2, 2017, 9:07 PM by Balasubramanian P   [ updated Sep 2, 2017, 9:10 PM ]

Many aware that there are Whatsapp forwards flooding in your inbox about Mills getting closed in Indonesia, most of the information found in whatsapp is not true. In view of the same, API - Indonesian textile association , released a note as below.  

Indonesian Textile Industry is very strong with efficient workforce availability , which is prime requirement for labor intensive textile industry.  However , due to continued market fluctuation , Mills are unable to get sufficient margin to keep the modernization plan active. While , Indonesian government is trying to do their best, negative sentiment noticed across most textile mills. Which may be resulting many change in management of many factories, closure and reduced utilization. While there are some inaccuracies in API's notification , in general below clarification on closed mills can help you to get broad idea.!

  

Cotton Properties

posted Aug 25, 2016, 2:54 AM by Balasubramanian P

Cotton Classification

Cotton classification, or classing, is the process of describing the quality of cotton in terms of such properties as grade, staple length and micronaire. In the past the classing of grade and staple was done by hand and eye. Now, all cotton quality characteristics are measured by instruments.

Classification is essential to the cotton pricing systems and is required for high-level quality control in textile production. The high-volume instrument (HVI) system was developed to objectively measure important fiber properties. The HVI classification system currently consists of instrument measurements of fiber length, strength, length uniformity, micronaire and color, as well as the presence of extraneous matter (trash). Since 1991, 100% of the U.S. crop is graded by the HVI system.

Physical Properties of Cotton

The three cotton fiber properties most often considered in nonwoven applications are micronaire, length and strength. Neps may also be considered for applications where visual appearance is important.

Micronaire

Micronaire is an airflow measurement of fiber fineness. It is performed on a weighed test specimen, which is compressed to a specific volume in a chamber. Air is forced through the specimen and the resistance to the airflow is measured. This resistance is proportional to the linear density of the fibers (expressed in micrograms per inch), adjusted for the maturity of the fiber (because micronaire and maturity are highly correlated within each cotton variety). If the exact linear density of the fibers needs to be determined, the maturity of the fibers must be determined by another measurement. On a typical year, the micronaire range for upland cotton is 3.0 to 5.5. Because denier is approximately equal to micronaire divided by 2.82, upland cotton ordinarily ranges from about 0.7 to 2.3 denier.

Fiber Length

Cotton fiber length varies genetically and any sample of cotton fiber shows an array, or distribution, of fiber length. The HVI reports fiber length as the mean length of the longer half of the fibers in the sample (the upper-half-mean length) in hundredths of an inch. Figure 1 shows a typical fiber length array. Fiber lengths normally are between 1.0 and 1.25 inches for U.S. upland raw cotton, as long as 1.6 inches for Pima cotton, and less than 0.5 inches for linters and comber noils (the portion of shorter fibers removed by the combing operation).

Fiber Strength

The HVI system measures fiber strength by clamping a bundle of fibers, with 1/8 inch between the two sets of jaws, and measuring the force required to break the fibers. Results are reported as grams per tex or grams per denier. A “tex” is a unit equal to the weight in grams of 1,000 meters of fiber. Therefore, the strength reported is the force in grams required to break a bundle of fibers one tex unit in size.

Neps

A “nep” is a small knot of tangled fibers, often caused biologically or by mechanical processing. Neps can detract from the visual appearance of fabrics by causing white specks. Neps can be measured with the Zellweger Uster Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) nep tester and are reported as total neps per gram of cotton and mean nep diameter in millimeters. Nep formation during processing can be minimized through the use of appropriate equipment and settings.

The AFIS equipment can also be used to measure fiber length and trash content. It is very effective at measuring small amounts of residual trash present in bleached cotton. Another instrument useful in measuring non-lint content of bleached cotton is the Zellweger Uster Micro Dust Trash Analyzer (MDTA). This instrument separates a 10-gram sample into lint and non-lint components and reports the non-lint as percent trash (> 500 µ), percent dust (< 500 µ), and percent fiber fragments. Each of these three components is collected for visual inspection. Table 1 lists the data obtained by the AFIS-M and MDTA-3.


Thanks to : Cotton Incorporated 

Yarn Numbering Systems

posted Aug 24, 2016, 11:00 PM by Balasubramanian P

Have you heard of a yarn count? in specific have you thought what it means when you hear counts like Ne 30s , Ne 20s , Nm 30s ( list goes on...).
To make it simple I will use a simple term.... 

Do you like to wear a thick piece of cloth as your inner wear? For sure , not.. you would prefer preferably thinner cloth. The difference between a thinner and thicker cloth is the yarn used to make the fabric. How to differentiate one yarn to other? Here the numbering systems of a yarn comes. 

Wide range of numbering systems followed worldwide. Most commonly used yarn numbering system is English Count  ( Ne ) for regular short stable spinning, In case of worsted yarns or long stable spinning , Metric System ( Nm ) is widely used. What is that? How to differentiate between both? 

A definition of Yarn Count is given by the Textile Institute  (UK) : Yarn Count is number indicating the weight per unit length or the length per unit weight of yarn.

  • Tex=No. of grams per kilometre
  • English Cotton Count = No. of 840 yd lengths per lb
  • Woollen Count (YSW) = No. of 256 yd lengths per lb
  • Woollen Count (Dewsbury) = No. of yard lengths per oz
  • Worsted Count = No. of 560 yd lengths per lb
  • Metric Count = No. of kilometres per kilogram
  • Linen Count (Wet Spun) = No. of 300 yd. length per lb
  • Jute Count = No. of lb per 14.400 yd
  • Denier = No. of grams per 9.000 metres
  • Decitex = No. of grams per 10.000 metres.

Face2face with www.fibre2fashion.com

posted Nov 9, 2015, 3:51 AM by Balasubramanian P   [ updated Nov 9, 2015, 4:05 AM ]

18th June 2015

Balasubramanian P, CEO of PT Texcorp International talks about the current state of the Indonesian textile, fibre and feedstock industry; the major
challenges faced by these industries; his solutions for overcoming these challenges; and his outlook for these industries in an interview with Fibre2Fashion.com 

What is the size of the textile manufacturing industry in Indonesia?
Indonesia is a major textile manufacturing country, and is still dominated by the spinning, knitting and weaving industries. It is also one of the major polyester fibre producing countries. Of late, downstream industries (like garments) have been coming up, and those are likely to dominate the composition of the national textiles industry in the near future. In case of spinning (the area we are specialised in), there are roughly 10 million working spindles and the number is gradually increasing. Many factories are modernising to increase their competitiveness.


Where does Indonesia stand in the man-made fibres industry?
Indonesia is a major man-made fibre producing country. With nearly a dozen polyester fibre producers, it is the second biggest polyester fibre producer (next to China). It is also home to the biggest rayon producers: SPV (Lenzing Group) and IBR (Birla Group). In addition to domestic fibre producers, major mills are also importing huge quantities of polyester and rayon fibres from China, Thailand and India. Indonesia's strength remains being the world's biggest supplier of synthetic yarns, fabrics and garments. At the same time, Indonesia still produces good-quality high-end cotton and cotton blended yarns and fabrics. 

Please rate Indonesia in textile feedstock production on a scale of 1 to 10.
It is an interesting question, but I'm not good in maths - so I prefer to skip on the scoring part. Specific to the spinning industry, Indonesia has abundant raw material supply for polyester yarn manufacturing. But it has a shortage for rayon fibre. Even with imports from countries like Thailand and China, currently it is facing a shortage of rayon fibres. But soon, one more factory will start producing rayon fibre in Indonesia. With that addition, I'm sure Indonesia will soon be self-sufficient in rayon fibre requirements. The real issue comes from cotton fibre availability. Indonesia doesn't have any local cotton fibre. Whatever is used by spinning factories has to be imported. So mills are forced to focus on specific items like contamination-free cotton yarn. 


What are the five main problems that plague the textiles industry in your country, and what steps are being taken to address those?
According to me:
1. The steep hike in electricity costs has forced many factories to stop production during the peak-hour surcharge period.
2. Increasing labour costs especially in Jakarta or West Java area are forcing factories to shift operations to Central or East Java where wages are comparatively low. 
3. Non-availability of locally-produced cotton fibre is forcing mills to import raw cotton, and to keep stock at their godown for a minimum period of 3-6 months. If cotton prices go down across the globe, then that results in direct losses for most factories. 
4. Huge devaluation of the Indonesian rupiah created big problems for domestic industries as they had to import raw materials like cotton fibres and manufacturing machines in dollars. So, expansion or modernisation has become expensive now than a year ago. 
5. Lack of infrastructure in cities of Java island is increasingly making it crowded; and in cities like Jakarta and Bandung, traffic jams have become a daily routine.


Which are the countries that you export to mostly? Which new markets look promising?
Our major export destinations for synthetic yarn are Latin American countries like Brazil, Peru and Colombia. We also export to the US and Italy. For us, China is the focus market for cotton yarn. Due to a recent slow-down, cotton yarn exports to China have dropped. But we are hoping for its revival. 



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