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Knitwear exports from India are expected to stay in a positive growth curve as international retailers have liquidated most of their inventories and are expected to go for re-stocking.
Even as December export figures are awaited, there is hope that exports would have grown like in November.
After three months of decline, knitwear exports from India grew 15.5 per cent at ₹5,058 crore in November 2022 and Tirupur’s exports grew 10.6 per cent at ₹2,782 crore. Exports suffered during August-October 2022 due to a drop in orders from Europe and US. as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. During April-November 2022 period, Tirupur accounted for about 55 per cent of India’s total knitwear exports of about ₹41,847 crore.
Industry representatives are of the view that the decline has bottomed out and their global customers reported a significant rise in retail sales in December.
“All things look positive, and we hope to reach previous high levels in March. Retail sales have grown in Europe as most of our customers have exhausted their inventory during Christmas and enquiries continue to increase,” said KM Subramanian, President, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA)
US, one of the largest markets for Indian apparel exports, is expected to bounce back this month. After reaching a peak monthly total apparel imports of $10363 million during August 2022, import volume in the US reduced to $6300 million during November 2022. December is also reported to have witnessed a similar trend.
Positive signs
“So, we see two positive signs. While retail sales across the US are reasonably good, retailers have also seen exhaustion of inventories. So, naturally, retailers in the US will step up purchases from India. They may not rush, but there will be calibrated buying from January,” said Prabhu Damodharan, Convenor, Indian Texpreneurs Federation.
In a reflection of improving sales, US’ leading wholesale firm, Costco, reported net sales of $23.80 billion for the retail month of December, up 7 per cent from $22.24 billion a year ago.
There are also a couple of other favourable factors for Indian textile exporters. Raw material prices have seen a correction. Secondly, freight rates have come back to pre-crisis levels. “It is a very positive factor for segments such as home textile exporters where freight is a key part,” said Damodharan.
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