A study conducted by The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, (Texprocil) has revealed that Indias cotton yarns exports are meeting their targets barring the seasonal fluctuations generally witnessed every April and in spite of high raw cotton prices. Statistics revealed by Texprocil show that India exported 1,082 mn kg of cotton yarn valued at $3.75 bn in the first 10 months (April — January) of fiscal year 2013-14. It is estimated that cotton yarn export for the full fiscal year 2013-14 would be around 1,350 mn kg valued at $4.70 bn.
The high quality of Indian yarn is ensuring firm orders for Indian Mills from the international markets. Exports of cotton yarn dropped during last three years in the month of April and it happened in 2014 too. One of the reasons, in addition to the high year end exports which cause a drop in April, is the temporary high cotton prices during this period. Last year as well as this year during the month of March and April, Indian cotton prices have gone above the international prices for cotton up to 40s count. Current Indian prices are higher than international prices and good quantity imports of 1 1/8 inch cotton are taking place.
There is an increasing anxiety in the industry due to recent developments in Chinese cotton policy since China is the major importer of cotton and cotton yarn from India. Presently, the price difference between Indian & Chinese Cotton is quite high with the Indian yarn selling at much lower rates. In fact, prices of Indian cotton yarns after payment of duty and taxes in China are still very much lower than the Chinese domestic yarn prices.
Says Manikam Ramaswami, Chairman, Texprocil: “Given the better quality produced by Indian mills there will always be good exports of Indian yarns taking place, even if the difference between Chinese cotton prices and international cotton prices narrows down substantially. Indian mills need not fear a drop in yarn exports happening beyond the seasonal fluctuations. However profitability of exports will depend upon our price parity with International cotton prices.”