Textile exports year end

With the export package announced, one may hope that the latter half of fiscal 17 brings some improvement. For now, the numbers for December still spell out the same story; as of the calendar year ended, textile exports are down 4.3 percent year-on-year (down 1.2% month-on-month).

As usual, all basic items (raw cotton, yarn, and cloth) registered a decline in dollar and quantity terms, save for yarn, which showed a 5.7 percent increase in quantity exported. At the value-added end of the spectrum (knitwear, bed wear, towels, and readymade garments), all items have encouragingly shown slight improvement in both quantity and dollar terms (save for towels). According to a source at PRGMEA, there has been an increase in demand along with a higher unit price for readymade garments, particularly in the EU. As for knitwear, a source mentioned that lower cotton prices have translated to lower export earnings.

Going forward, theres a lot to expect from the industry. For one thing, domestic cotton prices are currently on an uptrend due to higher demand from spinners and exporters. Then again, the abolition of duty on raw cotton imports could counter this. However, Indian cotton rates are currently higher than the domestic cotton prices, so all is well for the time being.

In other news, the NTC has imposed an anti-dumping duty on certain fine counts coming in from India. This is in addition to the duty that is already in place for yarn imports since last year. This caused ire among the value-added industry, who are demanding that the duty and sales tax on import of cotton yarn be abolished.

Still, the export package has been accepted with open arms by all associations, with APTMA promising positive results within the next six months. However, there are a couple of big issues that remain. Firstly, a large part of the exporters refunds are still pending. Secondly, the high cost of energy is not being addressed.