Fashion
Defer LDC graduation by 3-5 years, demand Bangladesh trade bodies
In a press conference organised yesterday by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Bangladesh and 15 other trade bodies, ICC Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman said: “Our entrepreneurs and business chambers strongly support graduation. However, we stress the need for a three- to five-year extension.”
Top trade bodies in Bangladesh have called for delaying the country’s scheduled graduation from the LDC status by five to six years.
Though Bangladesh has fulfilled all three UN criteria, the graduation will bring with it new responsibilities and risks, and therefore, careful preparation is needed to ensure the transition leads to lasting success, ICC Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman said.
Though Bangladesh has fulfilled all three UN criteria—gross national income, human assets index and economic vulnerability index—in two consecutive reviews, such a graduation will bring with it new responsibilities and risks, and therefore, careful preparation is needed to ensure the transition leads to lasting success, Rahman said.
Risks include the possible loss of duty-free market access in key export destinations where tariffs of up to 12 per cent could be imposed, and that may lead to a 6-14 per cent drop in exports, he said.
“The press conference expressed optimism that the extended period would provide greater scope for export diversification, development of skilled manpower in automation and artificial intelligence (AI), and building capacity to face future challenges, thereby ensuring sustainable competitiveness in the global market,” the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) posted on Facebook.
The business leaders also raised concerns over the end of special and differential treatment by the World Trade Organization (WTO). “This will make patent rules stricter for the pharmaceutical sector and increase compliance costs,” Rahman cautioned.
Rahman noted that several countries had deferred their LDC graduation in the last.
The proposed five- to six-year deferment would offer Bangladesh the time to secure trade deals with several countries and economic blocs, he added.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Consumer goods and services in the Netherlands were 2.8 per cent more expensive in December 2025 than a year earlier, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This marked a marginal cooling from November’s 2.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) reading. On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices remained virtually unchanged compared with November.
With the December data now finalised, average consumer price inflation for the whole of 2025 stood at 3.3 per cent compared with 2024, CBS said in a release.
Under the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), Dutch inflation eased to 2.5 per cent in December from 2.6 per cent in November. By contrast, inflation across the euro area declined from 2.1 per cent to 2 per cent, helped by lower energy prices.
Consumer inflation in the Netherlands has eased slightly to 2.8 per cent in December 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in November, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Prices were broadly stable month on month (MoM).
Average inflation for full-year 2025 came in at 3.3 per cent, while euro area inflation slowed to 2 per cent.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)
As part of this transformation, Kerstin Dorst will assume the newly created role of Senior Vice President Business Unit Womenswear as of January 15, reporting into HUGO BOSS Chief Sales Officer and Deputy CEO Oliver Timm. Dorst joins HUGO BOSS from Tory Burch, where she spent more than 10 years in New York and played a key role in growing the brand’s main collection and sportswear. Prior to Tory Burch, she worked at Adidas for over five years in Germany and Asia, contributing to the launch of the brand’s SLVR premium sportswear line, among others. In her new role, Dorst will also oversee the creative direction for womenswear collections, working closely with Marco Falcioni, HUGO BOSS Creative Director.
Hugo Boss is introducing separate menswear and womenswear business units to strengthen gender-specific expertise, unlock synergies and support its CLAIM 5 TOUCHDOWN growth strategy.
Kerstin Dorst will join as SVP Business Unit Womenswear from January 15, reporting to Oliver Timm, while Christian Schwinn continues to lead menswear across Boss and Hugo.
“With the new organizational structure, we are reshaping our business units to strengthen our focus on womenswear and lay the foundation for future growth. The new set-up will enable us to address gender-specific preferences even better and to deliver collections with a true customer centric approach in both areas in the future,” said Oliver Timm, Chief Sales Officer and Deputy CEO of HUGO BOSS. “In this context, I am pleased to welcome Kerstin Dorst in the newly created role for womenswear. Her extensive international experience and profound expertise will play a key role in taking our womenswear business to the next level in the years to come.”
The BOSS Menswear business will continue to be led by Christian Schwinn, who will additionally take on responsibility for HUGO Menswear as Senior Vice President Business Unit Menswear.
Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)
In the Ludhiana market, cotton yarn prices were broadly stable, with spinning mills maintaining their selling rates due to advance export sales bookings. A Ludhiana-based trader told Fibre*Fashion, “The cotton yarn market has become highly sensitive to US tariff-related developments. After earlier threats of *** per cent US tariffs, the recent announcement of a ** per cent tariff on Iran’s trading partners has triggered fresh concerns. Buyers have turned extremely cautious and are restricting purchases to immediate requirements only.”
In Ludhiana, ** count cotton combed yarn was sold at ****;***–*** (~$*.**–*.**) per kg (inclusive of GST); ** and ** count combed yarn were traded at ****;***–*** (~$*.**–*.**) per kg and ****;***–*** (~$*.**–*.**) per kg, respectively; and carded yarn of ** count was noted at ****;***–*** (~$*.**–*.**) per kg today, according to trade sources.
Dutch inflation slips to 2.8% in December 2025
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