Growth in post-MFA era backs ambitious textile target
04 Dec '07
4 min read
The target for textile exports for the current year has been fixed at US$ 25.06 billion keeping in view the growth that had taken place in this sector after the termination of Multi Fiber Arrangement (MFA).
This was stated by Shri E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Minister of State for Textiles while addressing the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Textiles.
He said that with the termination of MFA in December 2004, exports of textiles and clothing had taken a giant leap in 2005-2006. He said the exports had reached US$ 17.5 billion in 2005-06 an increase of about 25% over the previous financial year.
However, the Minister said this momentum could not be maintained in 2006-07 and exports of textiles and clothings still managed to reach US$18.73 billion thereby registering a growth of about 7 % over the financial year 2005-06.
During the meeting the Minister informed the members that as per textiles industry, the 14% appreciation in value of Indian rupee vis-à-vis the US$ since October 2006 has not only had an adverse impact on the textile exports but also led to considerable loss of jobs in the textiles sector.
The worst hit apparel exports segments constitutes about 50% of textile exports and 95% of the apparel manufacturers are in the micro, small and medium enterprises sector and operate on slim margins, he added.
Giving the latest foreign trade statistics for the first quarter of the currentyear, the Minister said that it indicates a decline of 14% in textiles exports in dollar terms and 22% in rupee terms compared to the first quarter of the previous year. He said that the total textile exports in this period have been US$ 4.01 billion compared to US$ 4.6 billion last year.
On the imports front, the Minister stated that total textiles imports were of the order of Rs.12857 crore. 51% of this was on account of import of yarn and fabrics and 44% was of import of raw material.
Imports have increased by little over 6% since 2005-06. However, the import of textiles as a percentage of total imports has been going down steadily and comprises only 1.49% of the total imports for 2006-07, the Minister added.
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