Strong rupee and rising commodity prices across the global markets have been adversely impacting Indian textiles export. Exports volumes have been suffering from the global pangs since the beginning of this fiscal year. In April and May, volumes export declined 7% in the month-over-month comparison. Entering June the decline sharpened to over 9%. However, rising prices was the only consolation in June. The unit prices realization improved by 5.5% during the month after falling 4% in May and 1% in April.

During June 47 million kgs of yarn was exported at an average unit price realization of US$3.04/kg down from 52 million kgs in May at US$2.88/kg. Major decline in export was seen in cotton and viscose yarn. While cotton yarn export volume declined 13%, that of viscose fell 16%. The respective volumes were 35 million kgs and 2 million kgs. The average price realization of cotton yarn was US$3.05/kg that for viscose yarn was US$3.46/kg.

Crude oil prices increased in the month of June 2008 over May levels. The WTI Spot prices averaged at US$ 133.56 / barrel, surging 8.4% over the May numbers. Similarly, the European Brent averaged US$ 134.10 /barrel, increasing 9.7% over May values. In Asian markets, crude oil prices increased 10.6% to US$ 131.49 / barrel CFR. Naphtha prices too increased in line with crude oil prices. The CFR Japan naphtha jumped 5% in June averaging US$1,168 per ton.

The Polyester Chain
Polyester prices were apparently driven up by the increase in raw material prices. In June, the 1.4D/38m PSF prices increased by 5-7% across markets. The FOB Taiwan values were pegged at US$1.48/kg. Similarly, 75D POY prices moved up 2.6% to US$1.60 /kg FOB Malaysia /Indonesia.