In August, basic textiles comprising fibres, spun and filament yarns shipment was up 2.9% YoY in terms of US$ worth US$483 million or INR3,577 crore, accounting for about 2.9% of total merchandise exported from India during the month. The increase was mainly led by sharp increase in fibre export, particularly cotton and at a very moderate pace by spun yarns.

On a cumulative basis, exports were still down 17% in the first five months of 2020-21, compared same period a year ago. The first two months were under strict lockdown and production suffered as a result. Globally, most markets were also under restrictions, hence orders were either cancelled or postponed.

Spun / filament Yarn

Spun yarns shipment totaled 114 million kg worth US$289 million or INR2,140 crore. They were 19% higher than August 2019 in terms of volume and mere 2.5% up in terms of US$. Bangladesh was the largest market for spun yarns in August with value up 81%, followed by China (-4%). These two markets accounted for about 38% to total yarn shipment during the month.

Cotton yarn export was 94 million kg worth US$234 million (INR1,732 crore). These were shipped to 73 countries at an average price of US$2.49 a kg, up US cent 1 from previous month and US cents 53 down from a year ago. Bangladesh was the top cotton yarn market, followed by China, Portugal, Peru and Vietnam. A steady price maintain levels just above previous year.

100% man-made fibre yarns exports of 6.17 million kg, comprising 2.61 million kg of polyester yarn, 1.90 million kg of acrylic yarn and 1.54 million kg of viscose yarn. Polyester yarn export was worth US$5.3 million or INR39 at an average price of US$2.03 per kg in August. USA was the largest market followed by Turkey. Viscose spun yarns export was worth US$4.40 million and exported at an average unit price of US$2.85 a kg. Turkey was the largest importer of polyester yarn, followed by Bangladesh and USA.

Blended spun yarns worth US$40 million were exported in August, including 9.5 million kg of PC yarns and 2.5 million kg of PV yarns. Egypt was the largest importers of PC yarn from India followed by Peru while Turkey was the largest importer of PV yarns from India followed distantly by Iran.

All kinds of filament yarns shipment totaled 49 million kg, valued at US$65 million or INR485 crore. Nylon exports continued to show increases in August while viscose showed sharp decline (54%). Polyester filaments export was also down 41% during the month.

Cotton

Cotton fibre shipment in August continued to surge with volume at 410 thousand bales worth INR682 crore or US$92 million. This takes the total export to 56.43 lakh bales worth US$1,443 million in the first 11 months of 2019-20 marketing season. Bangladesh was the largest market for Indian cotton export during the month, followed by Brazil and China.

Export price realisation averaged INR97.85 a kg or US cents 59.89 per pound during August. This was much lower compared to Cotlook A index, the global spot price benchmark and just below domestic spot price for benchmark Gujarat Shankar-6. During the month, Cotlook averaged US$70.41 per pound and Shankar-6 was at US cents 60.69 per pound, keeping Indian cotton competitive in global market.