Apparel Online India Magazine March 1st Issue 2019 | Page 22

TEX-FILE
India should majorly focus on man-made
textiles, feels industry
In order to achieve the desired
growth target of US $ 300 billion
market by 2025, India will have
to focus on man-made textiles,
along with cotton products.
Globally, the fibre consumption is
dominated by man-made fibres
(MMF) with 70% share, while
natural fibres constitute only
30%, mentioned Confederation
of Indian Textile Industry (CITI)
Chairman, Sanjay Jain.
Contrary to the global trend, fibre
consumption in India is skewed
towards natural fibres, especially
cotton. He said that the growth of
cotton is limited owing to limited
agricultural land availability
and price volatility. On the other
side, the downstream industries
in the MMF textile value chain –
spinning and weaving, which is
the largest employment generator
in the entire value chain, are
facing acute stress due to high
prices of domestic staple fibre
relative to what our competitors
get in other countries, pointed
out Rakesh Mehra, Convenor,
India’s Imports of Manmade
Textiles (in US $ Mn.)
Category
anti-dumping duty is Rs. 12 per
kg. India has huge and efficient
capacities in the manufacturing
of polyester staple fibre and
also VSF. Moreover, it may be
noted that import of man-made
staple fibre in 2017-18 stood
at 149 million kg, which is less
than 15% of the total man-made
staple fibre consumption in
India. Hence, Rakesh suggested
that the Government may abstain
from enhancing custom duties
and levying anti-dumping duties
Pulwama attack: Surat fabric exporters
boycott Pakistan
As the country is still boiling
over the ghastly Pulwama attack
that claimed the lives of 40
Indian soldiers, Indian exporters
have also come together to take
a stern action against Pakistan,
which reportedly carried out the
attack on February 14th.
According to reports, exporters
from India’s largest man-made
fabric (MMF) hub in Surat
have stopped exporting fabrics
to Pakistan after the attack.
Two of Pakistan’s biggest
fabric markets – Azam cloth
market in Lahore and Lucknow
market in Karachi – are likely
22 Apparel Online India |
to suffer most as they depend on
polyester fabrics, sarees, lehngas
and dupattas, imported from
Surat. “A delegation from Surat
had visited Azam and Lucknow
markets in Karachi and Lahore
last year. Majority of traders
import cheap sarees, lehngas and
other fabrics from Surat and sell
them after value addition. Small
traders there will be finished if
our exporters don’t supply raw
material to them,” said Devkishan
Manghani, Chairman, Textile
Committee, Southern Gujarat
Chamber of Commerce and
Industries (SGCCI).
MARCH 1-15, 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
Jun. 17 –
Jul 18
% change
Fibre 342 359 5
Filament 600 600 0
Yarn 149 237 60
Fabric 1129 1262 12
Apparel 164 212 29
Home
Textile 123 143 16
Others
CITI’s Sub-Committee on Man-
Made Fibre & Yarn. This affects
the export competitiveness of
the domestic downstream MMF
textile industry and also makes
the industry venerable to imports
of value-added MMF products.
Rakesh also added that anti-
dumping duties in the beginning
of the textile manufacturing chain
hurt the downstream industry.
Currently, anti-dumping duty on
PTA is Rs. 4 to Rs. 6 per kg and
on VSF (viscose staple fibre), the
Jul. 16 –
Jun 17
142 145 2
2,650 2,958 12%
Data Source: CITI Analysis based
of DGCI&S data
on staple fibres. This will allow
the downstream industries, along
the value chain, to grow. Similarly,
Sanjay expressed his concerns over
rising imports of man-made textiles
post implementation of GST. As
indicated in the table above, in
the post-GST regime, the import
of yarn, fabrics and garments has
increased substantially.