In response to the growing demand for news coverage of the home textiles industry, Textiles Intelligence is excited to announce the launch of a new monthly electronic bulletin called Home Textiles Update.

Vietnam's textile and garment exports jumped 38% year-on-year in 2011 to reach a record US$15.6bn, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

EU's imports of woven clothing from China sharply rebounded in the third quarter last year, after average unit price heavily fell. Our quarterly report covering EU's knit and woven clothing imports offers a comprehensive view of shipments per origin, in value and volume terms, with average unit prices being displayed for each country.

Authorities in Pakistan have restored a zero-tax scheme for five export-oriented sectors including textiles and leather.

Nusa Dua, Bali - The Asean secretary general yesterday warned of attempts by the regional grouping's powerful dialogue partners to dominate its forums to serve their own interest, particularly in the expanding security-oriented East Asia Summit (EAS).

Since the inaugural SAFSA Global Forum in 2010 there has been a lot of action between SAFSA members. Considering that many SAFSA members are meeting each other for the first time, it is great to see so much action in the short life of SAFSA. Here are a few highlights of what has been happening to keep you motivated:

The Indian government said on 27 Oct that it will invest INR21bn (US$430.8m) in setting up 21 new textile parks over the next 36 months, in a move that will also lead to the creation of around 400,000 jobs.

The Minister for Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma, will chair the project, which comes under the Scheme for Integrated Textiles Parks.

The European Commission has adopted a precise definition of “nanomaterials” in a move designed to address potential risks to the environment and human health.

The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) has hailed as a success an initiative to use global expertise to clean up Bangladesh's notoriously dirty wet textile processing units.

The US Congress just passed three free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea which had been stuck in the legislative process for years. The duty-free access offered to Colombian apparel will also be extended until 2013. Colombian apparel exports to the US were severely hit after US Congress earlier failed extending the preferential treatment.