US growth slowed to 3.3 per cent in the second quarter, the government said yesterday in a new estimate as economists fretted over the debilitating impact going forward of Hurricane Katrina. Gross domestic product growth in the quarter to June was down from the first estimate given by the Commerce Department of 3.4 per cent, and lower than the pace of 3.8 per cent seen in the previous three months. It said the new GDP figure "primarily reflected an upward revision to imports and a downward r

WASHINGTON ?The Bush administration announced Thursday that it was re-imposing import quotas on two types of Chinese clothing and textiles, intensifying trade tensions between the two nations in advance of a White House visit next week by China's president. The administration said that it would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads as well as bras, girdles, panty girdles and corsets in response to a surge in shipments that have battered the U.S. industry. The action was

Fierce competition and higher inputs pulled down the fashion and footwear product prices down by 30 percent in the country. Last five years trend seems to go against the present one and has turned around in a reversal of the general inflationary trends in consumer goods, IBEC's Fashion and Footwear Federation (FFF) said. The Consumer Price Index has shown that clothing and shoe prices have dropped down by 30 percent in the past five years.Fashion retailers on their part are contesting that they

Continuing blockade of Chinese textiles at European ports and the Sino-US talks underway, has provided a golden opportunity for Malaysia as German textile and apparel importers stop placing orders on China.Even a spokesman of the German Fashion Trade Association in Malaysia said that Malaysians could provide quality apparel products at competitive prices.Malaysian companies have already set shop in low-cost countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam, that will ensure they make most of the o

Prices have been continuously rising for items of re-exported Hong Kong clothing and clothing accessories. US importers are paying more for these products than they did in June. Shipments increased during July but seem to be slowing down. Latest details on Hong Kong's clothing re-exports show prices are continuing to rise with the US paying more per item than in previous months and also above the world average. UK paying below average Following a month-on-month upward trend, the average wor

The European Commission says EU nations are nearing a consensus on unblocking millions of euros worth of Chinese garments that have been held up at Europe's borders. The commission said Wednesday there was a strong consensus among member states that the current situation needs to be resolved as rapidly as possible, and that blocked goods need to be unblocked. The EU executive office needs a majority vote from the trade bloc's 25 nations to change import limits. The EU stopped issuing import lice

U.S. and Chinese negotiators failed to reach an agreement on Wednesday to stem China's surging exports of low-cost clothing to the United States but U.S. officials said the two sides were continuing to talk. Negotiators had hoped to strike a deal so it could be blessed by presidents Hu Jintao and George W. Bush when they meet at the White House next Wednesday. Cass Johnson, president of the U.S. National Council of Textile Organizations, told Reuters that negotiators had not even narrowed the

Brussels is ready to take ?ainful?decisions to free-up Chinese clothing imports blocked by EU textile quotas at Europe? ports. European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned that a June 10 EU-China deal struck could be endangered if the clothes were not released. The EU executive is concerned that unless growing mountains of textile products are quickly cleared bitter conflicts could erupt betweennational capitals. Trade decisions taken at the European level are jealously guarded by EU

European chemical major BASF AG is going to expand the capacity of its naphtha steam cracker at its site in Antwerp, Belgium. The expansion project will be conducted during the next regular turnaround of the plant scheduled for the fall of 2007 to avoid any additional shutdown. The investment of about ?00 million will raise ethylene capacity from 800,000 metric tons per year to 1.08 million metric tons per year ?making the plant the largest single-train steam cracker in Europe. ?he expansion of

Dormagen based embodiment of textile elasticity firm Dorlastan Fibers GmbH has added Dorlastan Black to its product range. This new spandex fiber prevents unacceptable grin-through in dark fabrics, regardless of which other fibers they contain. Separate overdyeing of the spandex fiber is therefore unnecessary where the dyes only stain the non-elastic fibers. Dorlastan Black also prevents grin-through in elastic combination yarns containing dark dope-dyed hard fibers such as polyester, polyamide