China halves spun yarn and cotton import from India

India exported 101.8 million kg of spun yarns worth US$283 million or INR1,881 crore in June 2016 at an average realisation of US$2.78 per kg. This was significantly lower compared to same month a year ago. Export volume was down 12% YoY and value declined 17% in US$ terms. The drop also reflects the lean season for global textile industry in this part of the year.

The Indian yarn industry is confronted with excess supply, after yarn exports dropped sharply last year. With India’s export prices rocketing now, shipments of cotton yarn were down due to limited demand. Also, demand from China continued to shift to low cost suppliers, particularly Vietnam where many spinning mills are owned by Chinese investors. A sharp drop in shipments was seen to China which was partially offset by a new surge in sales to Bangladesh and Vietnam. However, China continued to be the top importer of India yarn, followed by Bangladesh. Egypt, the third largest importer of spun yarns, saw volume rising 7 per cent while value inched up 0.3 per cent. These top three importers together accounted for around 47 per cent of all spun yarns exported from India in June.

Cotton yarn export was at 82 million kg in June to 74 countries worth US$226.8 million (INR1,491 crore). The average unit price realization was US$2.78 a kg, up US cents 7 from previous month but down US cents 24 from the same month a year ago.

Iran, Turkey, Thailand, Tunisia and Croatia were among the fastest growing markets for cotton yarn, and accounted for 5.5 per cent of total cotton yarn export value. Nine new destinations were added for cotton yarn export, of which, Australia, Mozambique, Chile and Bulgaria were the major ones.

Cotton fibre export was at 26.5 million kg or 155,954 bales (of 170 kg each) in June which declined 26% YoY and was valued at US$42.4 million, down 25%. Bangladesh and Vietnam were the largest importers of cotton with combined volumes at 124,657 bales amongst the 12 countries that imported cotton from India. Vietnam notched the second top position in cotton import from India. In June, cotton export to Vietnam was about 22 thousand bales as against 7 thousand bales in June 2015. This jump suggests that Vietnam imports cotton from India, value adds it into yarn and exports to China, at a lower cost compared to Indian yarns.

The Fiber and Yarn Exports – India report is based on data collated from 26 major ports (Air, Sea & ICDs) of India, namely Ahmedabad Air, Ahmedabad ICD, Ankleshwar, Bombay Air, Calcutta Sea, Cochin Sea, Delhi Air, Delhi TKD ICD, Hyderabad ICD, JNPT, Kattupalli, Krishnapatanam, Ludhiana ICD, Madras Air, Madras Sea, Mandideep, Marripalam ICD, Mundra, Nagpur, Petrapole Road, Pipavab, Pithampur ICD, Tondiarpet ICD, Tuticorin ICD, Tuticorin Sea and Vizag Sea. These ports account for 85% of cotton yarn and 60% of non-cotton yarn (excluding sewing threads) exported from India.