1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Precarious topography, political turmoil, and a struggling global economy are tough conditions for any state and do not let alone a young democracy of 160 million citizens, Bangladesh. Despite these problems, Bangladesh’s sustained economic growth becomes all the more impressive. Over the past five years, Bangladesh has enjoyed an average real GDP growth of six percent. It is mostly because of the labor-intensive industries; in particular textiles and garments have fueled growth as Bangladesh’s tremendous reserves of cheap, considerably-skilled labor have attracted foreign investment. Bangladesh is now actually a very important hub of the world’s textiles market.
However, 2011 was a tough year for the textile industry of Bangladesh as the cotton price played a rapid changing game throughout the year. But good news as the cotton and yarn price has became quite stable at the end of 2011 and the textile industries are coming round from their ill conditions during that period. The Garments export is also showing good growth although it was lying below the target in the last six month’s expectation from EPB due to the sign of economic recession in the major exporting regions of the country. Hence it is important to move smartly and be ready to avoid any upcoming turmoil.
Bangladesh is now the second biggest exporter of readymade garments in the world. The textiles industry is contributing around 12% of the national GDP. Around 40% value addition of manufacturing sector comes from textiles. It is possible only because, the industry has developed a strong backward linkage to support the fast growing demand from the garments sector. Over the years significant development has taken place in the textile sector. The investment in the primary textile sector is worth of 5 billion USD.
1.2Problems/Issues

No explicit national policy on cotton market control: There is no defined national policy for cotton market. So instability of cotton price can make a huge damage in Bangladesh textile sector.
No national committee on cotton market monitoring:Many ministries are involved with textile sector .Many organizations have great role in this sector.Ministry of Textiles and Jute,Ministry of Agriculture,Ministry of Finance,Ministry of Commerce,Bangladesh Cotton Association,Bangladesh Textile Mills Association,BKMEA,BGMEA,CPD are involved with this issue.To get these ministries and organizations to work together, there is need of a very strong and efficient National Committee.

To much dependency on Indian cotton: Most dependency on Indian cotton is the main reason for present situation of Bangladesh textile industries. The recent ban on cotton export by India has sent a shockwave down the textile industry in Bangladesh.It is the high time to search new sources.
Lack of local production of cotton: Poor production of cotton increases our dependency on imported cotton.
Not many investors in cotton production: Low investments make cotton sector more weak.
Inadequate research and development:There are some organizations that carry out research and development but with limitation of budget and skilled-human resource.
Inadequate well-trained human resource :Inadequate human resource(Appendix-1) is another negative site for the development of cotton sector.
1.3 Objectives
1.3.1 Specific Objective
 To find out important causes of unstable cotton prices.
 To find out the relation between cotton price and textile sector of Bangladesh.
 To articulate major challenges or impacts for unstable cotton price in the textile industries.
 To come up with recommendations to address the attendant challenges.
To put a set of actionable agendas to stimulate development of Bangladesh textile sector. 1.3.2 Broad Objectives

The central concern of this report is to highlight the impacts of cotton price instability on textile industries as well as economy of Bangladesh and to find out the way to overcome the challenges.

1.4 Hypothesis

Solution of cotton crisis problem will ensure real development of textile sector of Bangladesh.

1.5 Rationale

This research will be a milestone for different stakeholders, policy makers and decision makers at national and international levels who are or will be interested in development of Textile Sector of Bangladesh. This will provide them a feasible assessment of different views and points on related issues and its impacts on economy and will also tell what is possible to implement in the presence of different conflicting sectors. In the long run, this study will be helpful for policy maker and this study will be help concern people of state level with consideration of following issues:
 Provisions of economic opportunities
 Ensure industrial growth
 Increasing National Income
 Creation of jobs
 Reduction of poverty
 Significant contributions to sustainable development
1.6 Scope & Limitations

We are choosing not to observe all the factors affecting textile sector of Bangladesh. We will emphasis on cotton market instability. Even though such factors might be valuable and has important role on this issue.

There are some limitations we have to face in the process of preparing this report. Such as:
 We do not have enough knowledge about cotton market.
 Reluctance of related authority about providing sufficient data
 Lack of adequate time span
 Lack of accessibility

2.0 METHODOLOGY

Here we will follow the secondary methodology. Though we have the limitations and we have obstacles in accessibility in various sources what would be useful in doing the report. We will try to follow the journals, related books and reports.

3.0 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 State of textile sector of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is now the second biggest exporter of readymade garments in the world. The textiles industry is contributing around 12% of the national GDP. Around 40% value addition of manufacturing sector comes from textiles. It is possible only because, the industry has developed a strong backward linkage to support the fast growing demand from the garments sector. Over the years significant development has taken place in the textile sector. The investment in the primary textile sector is worth of 5 billion USD.

Table 1: The size of the textile sector under BTMA SL | Sub-sector | No. of units | Installed Capacity | Production Capacity in a year | 1 | Spinning | 385 | 8.7 million spindle
0.23 million rotor | 2050 million kgs | 2 | Weaving/Fabric manufacturing | 721 | 17250 shuttle less
13500 shuttle | 2150 million meter | | 1. Weaving 2. Denim9 3. Home Textile 4. Knitting | 584
20
17
100 | | | 3 | Dyeing-Printing-Finishing | 233 | | 2200 million meter | 4 | Export oriented garment industry | 5150 | | 561 million dozen |
Source: Bangladesh Textile Mills Association(BTMA)
However, there are 1700 knit-composite industries10 under the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers Association who are making their own fabric to feed their garment industries. The primary reason for faster integration in knit sub-sector is relatively low investment requirements. For example, a knit fabric manufacturing, dyeing and finishing unit of aminimum economic size could be set up in Bangladesh at a cost of about USD 3.5 million while investment required to set up a woven fabric manufacturing plant of minimum economic size with appropriate dyeing and finishing facilities cost at least USD 35 million, which ten time higher than the knit plant. Bangladesh exported 22.3 % of total exported cloth.(Appendix-2)
Among the 5000-5500 export oriented garments industries, 10% are settled in different EPZ’s. These EPZ’s are playing a very vital role in development of the apparel sector. Although most of the EPZ industries are garment producers but authority is giving priority to set up basic textile industries like spinning, weaving and dyeing finishing mills. Due to enormous success and keen interest of the foreign investors, government has allocated necessary land and other facilities for setting up two more EPZ’s. The main three EPZ’s are situated in Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla.
The textile industry provides 5.5 millions of employment where 80% of them are women. It provides huge opportunities for supporting industries like- banking, insurance, shipping, transport, hotels and other related economic activities. 15 million people in support industries depend on this trade. The industry also provides 2 lakhs of jobs in the waste recycling industries.
There are associations like BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association), BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association) and BTMA (Bangladesh Textile Mills Association) who are integrating their efforts to protect and uphold the interest of the industry by adding formulation of government policies consistent with a congenial growth of the sector.
3.2 Contribution of Textiles:

During the past three decades textile emerged as the biggest manufacturing sub-sector and achieved remarkable growth. The sector fulfills almost cent percent domestic demand apart from fulfilling the external demand of our clothing and apparels to a large extent. Here I like to mention some of the achievements and contributions of our Textile Sector:
◨ Export Earning from Textile clothing and Apparels in 2010-11 is over 17.9 billion US$ which is about 78% of Total Export earnings of the country.
◨ Almost 100% of Domestic Yarn and fabrics requirements are met by PTS. About 85-90% of Knit yarn and 35-40% of Woven fabrics requirements for RMG export are met by PTS.
◨Around 40% value addition of Manufacturing sector comes from Textile.
◨Provides around 5 million jobs out of which 80% are women.
◨ Contributes around 12% to GDP.
◨Retains around 70% of foreign exchange earnings of knitwear exports by using local yarn.
◨ Provides 0.2 million jobs in Waste Recycle Industries related to RMG.
◨ Creates huge clientele base for Banking, Insurance, Transportation, Hotel, Tourism & many other services.
◨ PTS is considered as import substitute and back-ward linkage industriesfor the RMG sub-sector.
◨ Investment in PTS is around 3.75 billion Euro.

3.3 Importance of cotton in textile

Cotton today is the most used textile fiber in the world. Cotton is first choice as textile raw material because of its exceptional characteristics.Cotton, as a natural cellulosic fiber11(Appendix-3) has a lot of characteristics, such as; comfortable soft hand , good absorbency, color retention , prints well ,machine-washable, dry-cleanable ,good strength , drapes12 well ,easy to handle and sew(Trotmon,1975,p-334).End Uses of Cotton are Apparel - Wide range of wearing apparel: blouses, shirts, dresses, children swear, active wear, separates, swimwear, suits, jackets, skirts, pants, sweaters, hosiery, neckwear and Home Fashion - curtains, draperies, bedspreads, comforters, throws, sheets, towels, table cloths, table mats, napkins.
3.4 World cotton outlook; Bangladesh perspective
Bangladeshi textile industry is a cotton dominating one. At least 90% of its production is of cotton and cotton blends. The country is the third largest cotton consumer of the world while its cotton production is not significant at all. Cotton agriculture and economy drives the countries industry greatly.
Table 2: Cotton Production & Export ranking (2011) of different countries: Country | Production Ranking | Production Percentage | Export Rank | Export Percentage | China | 1 | 27.09% | No Export | 0.00% | India | 2 | 21.84% | 2 | 19.99% | United States | 3 | 12.68% | 1 | 28.37% | Pakistan | 4 | 8.57% | 8 | 1.81% | Brazil | 5 | 7.52% | 4 | 10.06% | Australia | 6 | 3.88% | 3 | 10.32% | Uzbekistan | 7 | 3.40% | 5 | 6.71% | Turkey | 8 | 2.51% | Only special variation | 0.00% | Turkmenistan | 9 | 1.13% | 7 | 2.19% | Greece | 10 | 1.09% | 6 | 2.58% | Others | ****** | 10.29% | ****** | 17.97% | | | 100.00% | | 100.00% |
Source :United States Department of Agriculture
The current year was full of unprecedented turmoil in raw cotton as well as cotton yarn market. We all know that price of raw cotton started to rise significantly from August, 2010 and ended with significant rising trend. That trend continued and gained further momentum from the very beginning of 2011. It reached at an unprecedented and historic level during March-April of this year. Cotton price reached at $ 2.40-2.50/lb in April, 2011 as against US$ 0.60 – 70 cent/lb in 2009. Such historic rise in cotton price compelled us the manufacturers of yarn to raise yarn price also. From latter part of April, 2011, raw cotton price started to decline sharply and continuously. It declined to US$ 1.15 – 1.20/lb in October, 2011.

Figure 1: Last Three Years cotton prices.

The world cotton market is as volatile as a commodity market can be. Less production of cotton in USA and CIS countries and a devastating flood in Pakistan raised the price of cotton in 2010-2011. Although the situations have improved, world production of cotton is estimated nearly same as 2011. World cotton mill use is expected to continue recovering in 2011/12, driven by improving global economic growth, but high cotton prices and competition with polyester will remain challenges. The US Secretariat projects world cotton mill use will up by 2% in 2011/12, to 25.5 million tons. Cotton mill use is expected to continue increasing in South Asia and South America, but to decline in most of Europe.

Table 3:World cotton production.

World cotton production estimated in 2011-2012(January) (Millions of 480 lb. bales13) | USA | 15.7 | China | 33.5 | India | 34.5 | Pakistan | 10 | Uzbekistan | 4.2 | World | 122.8 |
Source:International Cotton Association(ICA)

3.5 Causes of unstable cotton price
First, a drought in China, the world's largest cotton producer and consumer, damaged crops there and forced the nation to ramp up cotton imports to make up for the shortfall.
Meanwhile, the world's second-biggest cotton producer, India, restricted its exports to protect domestic supplies and prices.
The recent ban on cotton export by India has sent a shockwave down the textile industry in Bangladesh, which mostly depends on Indian cotton to run its spinning factories. But more important, this has created the need to rethink a strategy to secure its supply from India, the major sourcing country for Bangladesh.
At the centre of the recent ban is the role played by China. Over the years, China has emerged as the single largest cotton consumer, accounting for almost 40 percent or 43.5 million bales of the total global consumption of 108.72 million bales in 2011-12.
And India, with an almost similar population of slightly over one billion, consumes 19.5 million bales.
However, the difference between these two countries is that India is a cotton exporter as it has an exportable surplus of around 7-8 million bales.
On the other hand, China buys around 30 percent of the total 38-39 million bales of global exportable cotton.
This situation has led to two implications for the cotton market. First, China as a strategy for securing its supply tends to overstock. And when this textile giant overstocks, it sends a distress signal across the cotton world.
This is exactly what China did this time also. It went on a buying binge and swooped on the Indian market. India suddenly came up to the realization that it had exported more than its ability. It then hurried to impose a ban on cotton export. But by that time around 12.5 million bales had been registered for export, of which 9.5 million bales had already been exported, 85 percent of this to China. There is now evidence that China has stockpiled cotton in its free zone and also in Malaysia.
Under this situation, Bangladesh, trying to be another textile giant, is precariously positioned, as it has to import its total cotton need of 3.5 to 4 million bales. With about 4 million workers engaged in the textile industry any supply shock leaves the sector tottering.
This calls for careful policy measures. For example, India adopted an intelligently crafted policy to support both its farmers and textile industry. When India banned cotton export, the commodity's price came down from as high as Rs 4,500 a quintal to Rs 2,500. This helped the Indian textile industry. At the same time, the government helped the farmers through agriculture price support.
Over the last three years, India has emerged as the major source of cotton for Bangladesh, mainly because its cotton quality has improved, and the transport cost from India is cheaper than from any other foreign source.
Although the US has a huge surplus of over 10 million bales, freight charge and lead time for procurement are both higher with America. Moreover, Bangladeshi importers need to get their letters of credit confirmed by an international bank which costs 3-4 percent extra. With India this does not apply.
At the same time, Pakistan, another major cotton producer, was hit by devastating floods, further exacerbating the cotton shortage and boosting raw cotton prices even higher.
3.6 Impacts of unstable cotton price on textile sector

During year 2011 we have witnessed and passed through a Tsunami like situation in the Textile Sector.

Impacts on Spinning &Weaving Sub-sectors:

Both the Spinning &Weaving Sub-sectors have experienced a devastating situation. We fell prey to the historic high price of cotton upto March-April, 2011 and then to a painful slide to extreme low price of cotton during the last few months of the just completed year. Such steep declining cotton prices put our mills into severe financial strain. Low yarn market coupled with influx of cheap yarns and fabrics have aggravated the situation further. It is estimated that our fabric manufacturing member mills could not avail export orders worth Tk.2000 Crores which have been shifted to our competing countries. Due to huge stock piling of unsold yarns worth about Tk.8000 Cores our Spinning Mills & the Weaving Mills have faced adverse business losses and financial strain.

The spinning sub-sector of the primary textile sector (PTS) has been witnessing robust growth(Appendix-4) over the past decade due to growing demand for yarn from both the domestic textile market and the export-oriented ready-made garment (RMG) sector.

Figure 2: the yarn production of last 3 years

But this growth is not enough to meet the demand.
Table 4: The gap between consumption and production Fiscal Year | Production | Consumption | Deficit | 2008/09 | 628,000 | 818,000 | 190,000 | 2009/10 | 731,000 | 880,000 | 149,000 | 2010/11 | 774,000 | 940,000 | 166,000 |
* All values are in metric tons
Source: Bangladesh Textile Mills Association(BTMA) Impacts on RMG sector: The incredible achievement of garment export from Bangladesh has outshined the most optimistic expectations as Bangladesh has positioned as the second largest readymade garment exporting country in the world in 2010. For the high price of cotton , the yarn price is high. For this fabric price is also high. At the end garment price is increasing because 70% cost of a garments is fabric cost. A garments company takes a order by giving a price(including production cost and profit) from the buyer. But when it goes to the production , for the increasing price of fabric , thread etc the production cost also increase. So it can not keep its profit. So company has to cancel the order. Day by day our garments lose their buyers. Table 5: The below chart shows us how the rate of export decreased in 2011 Source:Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA) Impacts on Socio-Economy: The country’s RMG sector, to a creditable level has relieved Bangladesh from over populous unemployment burden through providing the largest employment(Appendix-5) next to agriculture, transport trade and industry sector. This sector has uplifted the neglected section of the population, thus radically transforming the socio-economic condition of the country. Such empowerment and employment raised awareness regarding children education, health safety, population control, disaster management and so on. But for the bad situation of textile company many workers lost their jobs. So the unemployment rate is increasing day by day. The socio-economic condition is taking critical picture. Impacts on others sectors: As per the report of renowned organization Nielsen Company (Bangladesh) Ltd. in the fiscal 2010-2011 the RMG sector had contributions of BDT 1090 crore to banking sector, BDT 170 croreto the insurance sector, BDT 1960 crore to the shipping sector, BDT 830 crore to the transport sector, BDT 180 crore for Stamp and Licensing fee to government, BDT 110 crore to the service sector, BDT 431 croreto the engineering sector, the sector has paid BDT 442 core as electricity bill, BDT 111 crore as gas and water bill. RMG sector also contributed BDT 296 crore to the ICT sector, BDT 785croreto the housing sector and BDT 139 crore to the hotel and tourism sector in the last fiscal year. At the same year the sector has paid BDT 552 crore to the government as direct tax. So different sectors are related with this sector. For the fall of textile sector all the related sectors are facing problems.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS

The textile industry has been acting as the backbone of the country’s economy. It is the high time to think about most effective solution of cotton crisis. Reducing so much dependency on imported cotton by increasing local production can be a great solution. Government and private sector should come forward to solve this problem. Different sectors like banking sector, insurance sector, shipping sector, the transport sector, tourism sector are so much related with textile sector.
It is now playing the most important role in our economic development by earning the Lion’s Share of our foreign Exchange receipt, generating employment opportunities for millions of our working population. Besides, this sector is enormously contributing towards the poverty alleviation programme of the Government and social empowerment of women-folk. Textile has emerged as the prime mover of our economy.
As the textile sectors in Bangladesh are growing very fast and their prospects are very bright, all concerned related to the cotton world should give due attention to the needs of the Bangladesh market and take adequate measures to keep their respective contributions growing in Bangladesh’s textile sectors.

5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Frame national policy on cotton market: It is a must for the government to prepare and announce a well thought out cotton collecting policy. The government should bring every organization involved with agro industry to work together and lend support to all activities on unstable cotton market. Specialist support/advice can be availed for this. 2. Set up a national committee: Government should set a strong national committee to solve this problem. Members of this committee would come from different Ministries and related organizations. Ministry of Textiles and Jute will accommodate this committee and should be responsible for organizing the meeting and act as a Secretariat. This committee will be responsible for planning, allocating budget, monitoring, evaluation and formulating policies. 3. Searching new countries for cotton import: Bangladesh depends so much on Indian cotton. So recent ban on cotton export by India has sent a shockwave down the textile industry in Bangladesh. It is the high time to search new sources. 4. Increase local production of cotton: It is the best way to solve this problem to reduce dependency on imported cotton. For this we have to increase local production seriously. To achieve this goal Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Ministry of Agriculture and Bangladesh Cotton Association should come forward. 5. Encourage more investments in cotton production: Government should increase investments in cotton production. Government should encourage private sectors to invest more. Private sector will be more interested to invest money if there is adequate incentive. The government must extend assistance in terms of soft loan , relax tax and duty, assist in marketing convenient. In such a policy environment new entrepreneurs will surely invest more money. Small entrepreneurs may involve with business if appropriate physical and social environment is ensured. The main problem of industrial investment in this country is deteriorating law and order situation which must be improved at any cost. 6. Increase fund for research and development: Some research institutes in Bangladesh have been equipped with very sophisticated equipment but they are short of personnel and fund to carry out research and development studies. If Government provides them with enough skilled human resource and allocate fund for the research institutes, this problem can be solved. 7. Channel soft-loan for cotton industries: Government could set up a special soft loan programme to support all activities involved with cotton-industry development. International donors are interested to support this kind of activities because it can also help in a developing economy like Bangladesh. 8. Create well-trained human resource :The proposed National Committee has to study how many well-trained human resource is needed for Bangladesh and then ask the government to support universities, which have potential to produce graduates according to the need of the country.

End Notes

1. A spindle is a wooden spike (known as the shaft) used for spinning wool, flax, hemp, cotton, and other fibres into thread.(Talukdar et al,2009) 2. Staple length, a property of staple fibres, is a term referring to the average length of a group of fibres of any composition.(Nabi , Rubaiyat,2008), 3. The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union 4. Cotton Count is measure of linear density. It is the amount of skein material measured in hanks (840 yards) needed to create one pound. Under this system, the higher the number, the finer the yarn. 5. One who knits the fabric by knitting machine. 6. A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same. 7. A woven is a cloth formed by weaving. It only stretches in the bias directions (between the warp and weft directions), unless the threads are elastic. 8. The Spinning & Weaving sectors are called PTS. 9. Denim (which gets its name from the French town of Nîmes (de Nîmes)) is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric. 10. It means that the industry has Spinning section, Knitting section, Dyeing-Printing-Finishing section, garments section. 11. Cellulose fibers are fibers from any plant or plant-based materials. They are usually categorized as "natural" or "manufactured" 12. Drape is the outstanding property of a textile fabric which distinguishes it from other materials such as paper, steel, is its ability to undergo large, recoverable draping deformation by bulking gracefully into rounded folds of single and double curvature 13. A bundle used for packaging hay, cotton, or similar material. For cotton, a bale is about 500 pounds. The origin was probably Dutch, and early use refers to a round bundle wrapped in canvas.

Appendix

Appendix 1 :Demand forecast of textile educated workforce

Level | Existing at 2009 (Nos.) | Required in 2014-15 (Nos.) | Gap (Nos.) | Ph.D | 25 | 1087 | 1062 | Masters | 65 | 4708 | 4643 | B.Sc. Engg./Tech. | 2034 | 19996 | 17962 | Diploma | 3520 | 44863 | 41343 | Total: | 5644 | 70654 | 65010 | Source: Department of Textiles survey of Textile Sector, 2009.

Appendix 2 : Cloth exporting country
Source:Export Promotion Bureau |

Appendix 3 :Raw cotton components

Components | Percentage | Cellulose | 80-90% | Water | 6-8% | Waxes and fats | 0.5 - 1% | Proteins | 0 - 1.5% | Hemicelluloses and pectin’s | 4 - 6% | Ash | 1 - 1.8% |
Source:Moncriff(1975),Natural Fibers.

Appendix 4 :The growth of the Bangladesh spinning sector over the last few years isgivenin the below table

Appendix 5:The growth of the industry in terms of employment is shown in the below table Year | No. of garment factories | Employment in million workers | 2006-07 | 4490 | 2.4 | 2007-08 | 4743 | 2.8 | 2008-09 | 4925 | 3.5 | 2009-10 | 5063 | 3.6 | 2010-11 | 5150 | 3.6 |

Source: Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA)

References

BTMA (2011) Bangladesh Textile Mills Association annual report from Jahangir Alam, President, , BTMA .

Hossain,BUTEX-Bangladesh University of Textiles ,Textile and Apparel Industry-contribution in Socio-economic Development of Bangladesh, published in the BUTEX inaugural ceremony souvenir.

M.K. Talukdar, Sriramula, Ajgaonkar(2009), Weving(Machines-Machanisms-Management),7th ,India ,Mahajan Publishers.

Mohiuddin (2011) ,BATEXPO 2011 souvenir, The Dilemma of Opportunities and Challenges: A Holistic Approach Is Needed for Sustainable Development.

Moncriff(1975),Natural Fibers, 6th Ed, London, Betterworth scientific.

Nabi ,Rubaiyat(2008), Principles of Short Staple Spinning, 1st Ed, Dhaka, Books Fair Publication.

Reaz-Bin-Mahmud (2011), BATEXPO 2011,Skills Development in Bangladesh RMG Sector: A Precondition to Growth Sustainabilit.

Trotmon(1975),Dyeing Chemical Technology of Textile Fibers,5th Ed, London, Charles Griffin & Company Ltd.