India tops its position in knitwear exports to US

India’s garment exports to US in the category Men/Boys cotton knit shirts has clocked number one position in terms of market share, it is for the first time in the history due to the slowdown in China. According to the data released by Office of Textile and Apparel, US department of commerce, India exported 8.5 million dozens of men/boys cotton shirts to US. India’s share in total men/boys knitwear shirts import in US stood at 8.7 percent in June.

After a dip in 2014, India’s market share has grown steadily and since then, it has steadily increased and in 2016 it stood at 7.8 percent. Contrary to that China’s market share which was 11 percent in 2012 dropped to 9.6 percent in 2016 is now at 8.5 percent.

Exporters said that since US market gives them a level-playing field, they were able to compete and grow. But the recent appreciation of the rupee against the dollar could be a major hurdle in the upcoming months.

In other segments including women/girls cotton knit shirts/ blouses, men/ boys cotton trousers, breeches, shorts, cotton nightwear/ pyjamas, India and others countries have also increased their market share.

However, the Indian exporters are unhappy as Vietnam is giving them tough competition. Bangladesh is also increasing its market share. The data shows that Vietnam exported 8.47 million dozens of men/boys knitwear to US. The difference with India’s exports is just of 29,778 dozens.

Tirupur Exporters Association President Raja M Shanmugam said that the factors which have led to the increase of India’s share include exporters investing heavily in capacities to take on more orders from US expecting that they would get more orders, which were traditionally going to China.

However, India could not compete with other nations in Europe and other parts since it does not enjoy benefits like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia and others under trade agreements.

According to exporters, they will not be able to compete with Vietnam or any other country as Made-in-India products are getting costlier due to various factors including rupee appreciation against US dollar.

China having found other sectors to be more lucrative than textile decided to reduce its exports in textile, opening doors for India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other developing countries for the global textiles.