India's textile & apparel exports decline 8.8% to $16.7 bn in H1 2023

According to an analysis by confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) based on trade date from the ministry of commerce and industry, textile exports slipped 3.59 per cent to $9,833.05 million in April-September 2023 from $10,250.69 million of the same period of last fiscal. Apparel shipment noted a steeper fall of 15.36 per cent to $6,916.37 million from $8,171.66 million. 

Total shipment of textile and apparel was 7.95 per cent of India’s total merchandise exports of $211.398 billion in April-September 2023. Out of textile, the shipment of cotton yarn, fabric, made-ups, handloom products etc valued at $5,899.77 million which was 1.83 per cent higher than last year’s shipment of $5,793.55 million. The exports of man-made yarn, fabric, made ups etc fell 9.62 per cent to $2,336.39 million from $2,584.94 million of April-September 2022. 

During the month of September 2023, textile and apparel export inched up 1.77 per cent to $2,601.48 million from $2,556.28 million. While the export of textiles gained 11.06 per cent to $1,655.15 million but the shipment of apparel slipped 11.23 per cent to $946.33 million. The export of cotton yarn, fabric, made ups, handloom products etc jumped $27.39 per cent to $1,017.84 million in September 2023 from $798.98 million of same period of last year. Man-made yarn, fabric, made ups exports eased 7.04 per cent to $372.77 million from $400.98 million of September 2022. 

Sanjay Jain, managing director of TT Industry and former president of CITI told Fibre2Fashion, “We need to compare export performance of textiles and apparel with 2021 which shows drastic fall in most of the segments. Although, the shipment does not seem to be too bad if we compare with the performance of 2022. Actually, export performance of 2022 was also very pessimistic.” 

CITI’s analysis shows that the export of textile and apparel declined 13.59 per cent in the first half of this year in comparison to corresponding period of 2021. The shipment of apparel declined 5.69 per cent and textiles 18.37 per cent compared to 2021.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)