The exports which had fallen to 8090 million kg in the initial five months of the current fiscal, have shot up to 124 million kg in September
KOLKATA: This may be purely a coincidence, but close on the heels of PM Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, cotton yarn exports to China have gone up.

The exports which had fallen to 8090 million kg in the initial five months of the current fiscal, have shot up to 124 million kg in September, with China showing interest in Indian cotton yarn.

Keeping pace with cotton yarn, the demand for apparel has also gone up in the global market. There has been significant recovery in the EU mar ket and the latest figures obtained from Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) show that in June this year, exports to the EU have gone up by 27.2% compared to June 2013.

According to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCIS) figures, apparel exports between April and August this year shot up by 17.9% to $7.07 billion from $6 billion in the same period previous fiscal. DGCIS figures show exports in August this year has risen by 23% against August last fiscal.

Prem Malik, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said, "The Chinese market is picking up and monthly registration of export contracts for cotton yarn has al ready crossed 124 million kg." China accounts for 40-50% of India's cotton yarn export.

"China depends on India for yarn and that's why they have started showing interest in India," said K Selvaraju, secretary general, Southern India Mills' Association.

Malik said the ensuing festival season is expected to boost demand for all textile products, which would help the domestic industry achieve substantial growth. Referring to the global scenario, he added the US economy is picking up and there's revival in demand in the EU as well.

However, a major problem threatening this industry is the falling in ternational prices of cotton. In the last three months, cotton prices have fallen 25% globally. During the same period, Shankar 6 cotton variety has declined by 6% in India.

A section of the apparel exporters also feel the new government should come up with policy measures to give fillip to garment exports.