7th China Interdye with 321 companies exhibiting
Non-participation of Kyung-In of Korea
Dye manufacturers of India attract attention

Opening ceremony of China Interdye in Shanghai

China Interdye 2007 was held for 3 days from April 17 to 19 in Shanghai. This year again, it was held in rainy weather. 321 companies exhibited (352 applied) this time.

Japanese companies exhibiting were Anac, caustic-soda concentration control equipment maker, which applied at the last minute, and Shanghai Daxiang Chemical Industry.

On the first day, it attracted 13,927 visitors from 34 countries/regions, and of those 25 were from Japan. 18 companies exhibited at the Korea pavilion which was 8 companies less than the last year. Korean dye manufacturer Kyung-In did not participate this year.

17 companies exhibited at the India pavilion, and dye manufacturers of India, rather than set up in the international section (Shanghaimart) to challenge them in price competition.

There they described their products to visitors enthusiastically. Each Indian company attracted more visitors this year than last year.

Scene from China Interdye (Shanghaimart)

Kuraray Trading's strategy to transform ecology into new profit source

Kuraray Trading has been carrying out "EcoTalk" Recycle since April, this is a system where by the company takes responsibility for everything from supplying products to recycling used ones, targeting uniforms(government offices and private companies) to transform Japan's growing enhancement of environmental measures into a new engine to increase profit. "EcoTalk" Recycle is a chemical recycling system using a coke-oven chemical raw materials method, and the simple flow of this recycling is (1) Kuraray Trading recovers its manufactured and distributed textile products labeled with the "EcoTalk" mark through its Web system, and (2) recovered products are crushed with a crushing machine at the company's recycling center as pretreatment, and then (3) they are transferred to Nippon Steel Corp. where they are reconstituted as hydrocarbon oil, coke and coke-oven gas.

General description of "EcoTalk" Recycle is as follows.

Kuraray Group completes introduction of ERP system for its domestic companies
It aims at completion of global management information system for whole group including overseas affiliates by 2010

Kuraray has been promoting the unification of the whole group including overseas affiliates with the same ERP system (SAP R/3), aiming to respond globalization in management, to accelerate responses to the markets and to promote efficiency of operations, and it has recently completed the introduction of ERP system (SAP R/3) at the head office and its domestic group companies. This system allows the company to store all business operations such as sales, production, facilities, finance and purchasing of the head office and its domestic group companies in one system to collect and share management information from the whole group in real time, which makes it possible to improve the efficiency of management and to revitalize the organization.

Kuraray will keep promoting the introduction of SAP system to overseas affiliates, as well as domestic work restructuring, aiming at the completion of a global management information system for domestic and international members of the Kuraray group by 2010.

Clariant promotes credible MSDS worldwide

Clariant, dyes and specialty chemicals company of Switzerland, sent a message to its affiliated companies around the world that they need to enhance the image of the company being supported and trusted by users, because the world market in the future will enter the stage where firms using chemical substances strictly assess the value (the EU's REACH etc.) of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) of chemical providers.

Asahi Kasei Trading and Kyokuyo Sangyo establish Asahi Kasei Fibers International (Shanghai)

Asahi Kasei Group's Asahi Kasei Trading and Kyokuyo Sangyo established a fifty-fifty joint venture "Asahi Kasei Fibers International (Shanghai) Co., Ltd." in Shanghai, China in March 2007, aiming to expand the garment and industrial textile business based in this overseas office through the combination of functions from the sewn product business of Asahi Kasei Trading and yarn finishing and textile converting of Kyokuyo Sangyo.

ITG of US to acquire Germany’s airbag fabric manufacturer BST

International Textile Group, Inc. (ITG) of the US has reached an agreement to acquire airbag woven fabric manufacturer BST Safety Textiles (BST) of Germany from its parent company, an investment firm, WL Ross & Co, LLC (WL Ross). ITG will issue $84 million in preferred stock which will be assigned to WL Ross. ITG expects to complete the acquisition by April 2007.

ITG was formed by world renowned investor Mr. Ross in 2004, and it is exploding through corporate acquisitions. It operates five primary business units: Automotive Textile Products, Cone Denim, Burlington WorldWide Apparel, Burlington House Interior Fabrics and Carlisle Finishing, and employs over 10,500 people worldwide.

BST, based in Maulburg, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of narrow woven fabrics for automotive airbags, seat belts, military and technical uses, which had 2006 net sales of approximately $280 million. BST operates seven facilities located in the US, Germany and Poland, and employs 1,250 people worldwide. It was acquired by WL Ross in December 2006, and is expected to be operated as part of ITG's Automotive Textile Products Group through cooperation.

ITG's Automotive Textile Products Group is the business unit formed by the integration of its Automotive Group and the business Safety Components International, Inc. (SCI), an affiliate company of WL Ross, and just started operation in December 2006.

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Chairman, said, "We are very excited to expand ITG's Automotive Group with the addition of BST. BST and SCI are both leaders in their markets and their airbag and technical products complement each other. The ability to bring these two together establishes a powerhouse in the automotive safety components industry and opens new opportunities to service leading automakers worldwide."

BST announced it would expand its US operations with a major capital investment at ITG's Richmond Plant located in Cordova, North Carolina. This plant will produce side-curtain airbags for automobiles and is expected to employ 200 people over the next three years.

TPI of US sells part of its laminated textile business

TPI Industries of the US, manufacturer of laminated textiles for boats, canvas for heavy trucks, and medicals (orthopedic braces) has sold part of its business to Shawmut Corp.

The target products and markets of TPI Industries are matched to Shawmut's products such as laminated textiles and engineered soft materials for automobiles. TPI Industries will continue to operate independently at its facilities in New York and Tennessee which were retained this time, although the companies expect to achieve synergies in management and development from the integration of certain functions.

Shawmut Corp. has plants in Port Huron (Michigan), Knoxville (Tennessee), West Bridgewater (Massachusetts) and Middletown (New York) as well as warehousing and distribution in Orlando (Florida), El Paso (Texas) and Los Angeles, and the combined operations are expected to have annual revenues approaching $200 million.

National Council of Textile Organizations of US requests exclusion of Bangladesh and Cambodia from trade preferential treatment

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has announced that it will launch an investigation to assess the probable economic effect of allowing products from the world's least-developed countries (LDC) to enter the US free of all duties and quotas. This is under a WTO Ministerial Declaration agreed in Hong Kong to provide duty-free, quota-free market access to products from LDCs. In response, the National Council of Textile Organizations of the US (NCTO) has requested the exclusion of two countries, Bangladesh and Cambodia, from this preferential treatment. The reasons for this request are both countries have been expanding clothing exports to the US market after removal of quotas in 2005, having strong competitiveness in the textile industry unlike other LDCs, and it could harm the apparel industry in the US with a decrease of production and job losses since those countries' product structures are the same as Caribbean Basin Initiative countries and Mexico.

US shows subsidy plan for domestic cotton farmers in revision of agricultural law in 2007

The US presented its plan to increase subsidies for domestic cotton farmers in a revision of the agricultural law in 2007.

If this 2007 agricultural law passes, subsidies to US cotton farmers will increase by over 60%.

In response, at WTO conference held in Geneva, Switzerland on March 16 , Africa's major cotton producing countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, are criticizing this plan, claiming it would distort the trade and cause further hardship in the lives of Africa's 15 million cotton farmers.

The US is the biggest cotton exporter in the world and 80% of its domestically-produced cotton is for export, which has made Africa's cotton producing countries less competitive in the world market especially with the US's subsidy plan, resulting in decreases in cotton exports from Africa by about 30% for the last few years.

Lamy, director-general of WTO, has pointed out that some countries subsidy plans were responsible for the income decrease of Africa's cotton farmers. He called on WTO members for development of the Doha Round and especially agreement over agricultural trade issues as a key element.