India losses spot amongst top 5 apparel exporters to US

10 Oct '08

2 min read

India stood at number three amongst combined exports of textile and clothing to the US in 2007 and for clothing exports only; it ranked at number five behind China. Mexico, Vietnam and Indonesia in that order.

But the tables have turned for apparel shipments to the US in the first seven months of 2008. Bangladesh has climbed to fifth place, thereby pushing India to the sixth. Even Vietnam has climbed a notch higher from its earlier position of three in 2007 to two in the period in the same period.

The biggest setback has been for China which has seen a slowdown in its clothing exports juggernaut, falling by 4.63 percent though it has been able to retain its number one position, purely on the value of its exports.

The biggest gainers of the fallout in slowdown of Chinese and Indian apparel shipments have been Vietnam and Bangladesh. While Vietnamese shipments of apparels have grown by 23.28 and has moved to second place by displacing Mexico, that of Bangladesh has risen by 9.14 percent. On the other hand growth rate of India has fallen by 2.39 percent.

The other big clothing exporting country is Mexico, which also has witnessed a negative growth rate of 10.99, which is the highest among the top five garment exporting countries, though it has held on to its number two position.

The biggest reason attributed to the fall in growth of apparel exports from India is attributed to the appreciating Indian rupee against the US dollar in the initial months of 2008 according to experts. The second major reason is the rising cost of raw materials like cotton and other increase in costs which lead to the down trend experts add.

Strong growth in apparel exports, both from Vietnam and Bangladesh has been aided by the strong support provided to the apparel manufacturers by their respective countries.

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Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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