India cotton exports down 33%
India’s cotton yarn exports declined 33% in the first two months of the current financial year, according to the directorate-general of foreign trade (DGFT). The DGFT registered 134.55 million kg for export in April and May and the actual shipment is estimated at 100-110 million kg, as against 150-160 million kg in the corresponding period last year.
“Actual shipment runs generally with a lag of 15 days and, hence, we do not think, total export quantity could have surpassed 110 million kg,” said D K Nair, secretary-general of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry.
In 2010 the government imposed an upper export limit of 720 million kg, which ginners executed in the first 10 months, anticipating an extension of the quota. But the government did not extend it, so there was close to zero shipment in the last two months, February and March. Importers from Bangladesh and China, the two main destinations for India’s cotton yarn, opted for synthetic yarn.
Ginners are optimistic that demand from both domestic and foreign textile mills would revive after the monsoon, for which inquiries and orders should start soon.
