India is the world’s second largest cotton exporter and one of the world’s major cotton producer. Cotton is a staple crop in India, as well as a key raw material in the local textile industry. The cotton sector in India is the second largest employer after agriculture, employing more than 110 million people directly or indirectly. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Sector, the Indian textile industry provides around 5% of India’s GDP, 14% of industrial production, and 11% of total export profits. Cotton-producing states in India include Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Cotton accounts for around 74% of Indian clothing exports. Cotton is freely exportable from India, with significant export destinations being the United States, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand.
India – Cotton Supply and Demand Statistics (1,000 HA and 1000 480-lb. Bales)
Source: USDA
There was a significant decline in the export of manmade staple fiber between the FY 2017 to FY 2021. Raw cotton including waste exports that were swelling up from FY 2017 to FY 2019 dwindled in the FY 2020 and again climbed up in FY 2021. Exports of Raw cotton including waste were better than manmade staple fiber.
There was a hike in the exports of cotton textiles between the FY 2017 to FY 2019 with a drop in the exports during next couple of financial years. Export of readymade garments was 8 billion USD for all the years except the FY 2021 in which the exports declined to 6.7 billion USD. Cotton yarns and fabric exports that were increasing also shrinked due the pandemic from 9 billion USD in the FY 2019 to 7 billion USD in the FY 2021. Exports of manmade textiles was very less than the exports of cotton textiles in all the mentioned years except the FY 2021. Exports of manmade textiles were less than the exports of cotton textiles since FY 2017 except the FY 2021 when exports of manmade textiles were 8 billion USD more than the previous year’s exports and was 1 billion USD more than the exports of cotton textiles in the same year. Due to the pandemic, there was a decline in the exports of wool, silk, and handloom textiles in the FY 2021. Jute exports that lowered in FY 2020 increased noticeably in the FY 2021. There was an obvious decrease in the exports of carpets and other textile materials.
Exports of cotton yarn that exhibited a huge drop in the month of April and May 2020 displayed signs of stabilizing post pandemic with consistency in the worth of exports. November 2020 and January 2021 witnessed less exports in comparison with the exports in the same months, previous year. Cotton yarn exports that were worth 3.8 billion USD in the FY 2019 were highest among the mentioned financial years, dropped to 2.7 billion USD in the FY 2021. These exports were 30 million USD more than previous year’s export, in the FY 2021.
Cotton fabric exports that depicted a subsequent growth for past three years slightly dropped due to the pandemic. There was a major decline in the exports during April 2020 and May 2020 for the same. From 110 million USD in March 2020, exports dropped down to 110 lakhs in April 2020.
Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Raw cotton including waste exports hiked from 1 billion USD in FY 2020 to 1.8 billion USD in the FY 2021, which was 2nd highest export since FY 2017. These exports showcased a subsequent growth since April 2020 to March 2021 where the exports swelled up from 12 lakh USD to 3 million USD, respectively. A huge drop was noticed n these exports between April 2019 to November 2019 which gradually started swelling up and dropped again in April 2020.
Pandemic has affected people globally and has hit hard to textile industry which is the 2nd largest industry after agriculture in India. In spite of this loss, there are bright days for cotton as textile sector is moving towards sustainable textile trend and India is the 2nd largest exporter of cotton.
Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry
