“We are relieved with Trump’s announcement. If the TPP trade policy is to be ratified, Indian textile and apparel sector will incur huge loss. Withdrawal from the TPP policy will have a positive effect on the Indian business, especially textiles as TTP trade deal followed the rule of ‘yarn forward’. According to this clause, there will be no export of yarn production and all the operations forwards to any of the 12 countries involved in the TPP trade pact,” Kripabar Baruah, deputy director of The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) told Fibre2Fashion.

“If the TPP policy is scrapped, it will be a boon for the Indian textile market. Hopefully, more focus will now be on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership deal. However, in terms of exporting to the US market, China is a strong competitor of India. China has the liberty to export multiple product lines to US. With high charges on export of man-made fibres (MMF), it is not possible for us,” said Raja M Shanmugham, president of Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA).

However, representatives of the Indian textile industries doubt about the trading relations with the US as Trump is determined to promote America in the production sector, “There is a difference of just around 4 per cent in the production cost of textile between China and US. With time, this difference will reduce. America will become independent in the production sector in due course of time. This will automatically affect our exports to the US,” said Baruah.

“There is a significant rise in the export of textiles to the US in the last few years. Earlier, US would import only value-added items such as embroidered and polycotton fabrics, and high-fashion products among others from our country. The situation has begun to change and the demand for yarn is also growing,” added Baruah. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion.com – India