In August, total shipment of basic textile comprising fibres, spun and filament yarns plunged 30% in US$ terms and INR terms as against 25% registered in July. During the month, exports were worth US$469 million or INR3,250 crore, accounting for about 1.8% of total merchandise exported from India during the month. A year ago, the same items had accounted for 2.5% of total merchandised export then. Meanwhile, the INR against the US$ weakened from INR67.59 to INR69.32 this August, which should boost export.
Cotton Export
Cotton exports continued to remain sluggish as only 93 thousand bales (170 kg each) were shipped this August as against close to 2.45 lakh bales exported in the same month of previous marketing year (2017-18). Shipment in US$ term declined by 85% YoY. Bangladesh was the largest importer of Indian cotton in August, followed by Vietnam and Pakistan. Indonesia was fourth largest market. No cotton shipment was noted to China, which was one of the largest importer of Indian cotton in recent months.
Yarn Export
Spun yarns shipment totaled 95 million kg (down 25%) worth US$282 million (down 34%) implying an average unit value realization of US$2.95 per kg. This was US cents 38 lower from a year ago average. China reemerged as the largest market for spun yarns, topping both in terms of volume and value, but both falling year on year.
Cotton yarn export was at 74 million kg worth US$222 million (INR1,538 crore), down 35% from a year ago level. 76 countries imported cotton yarn from India at an average price of US$3.01 a kg, down US cents 7 from previous month and US cents 41 from a year ago.
China was the top cotton yarn market, but imported 50% lesser cotton yarn in value terms from India this August. During the month, export to China was 18 million kg worth US$46 million. China was followed by Bangladesh with volume and value declining more than 50% year on year. Portugal and Egypt were the other major importers of cot-ton yarn, with former recording 62% increase in value and latter inching up 1%. Fourteen countries did not import any cotton yarn from India this August as they had imported yarn worth US$1.74 million in August 2018. However, they replaced by 8 other countries which imported yarn worth US$2.70 million. Iran was the major new market this month.
Nepal, UAE, Algeria, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina were among top fastest major importers of cotton yarn in August while Austria, Honduras, Pakistan and Hong Kong significantly reduced their imports compared to last year.
100% man-made fibre yarns exports declined (8%) in August after a continuous positive performance in previous two months. They comprised 4 million kg of polyester yarn, 1.9 million kg of viscose yarn and 2 million kg of acrylic yarn. The decline was led by polyester and viscose yarn, which fell both in terms of value and volumes.
Polyester spun yarns export was worth US$9.52 million and were exported to 48 countries at average unit price of US$2.41 a kg, up US cents 7 from last month and down US cents 8 from last year. Turkey was the largest importer of polyester yarn, followed by USA and Iran.
Viscose yarn worth US$6.50 million or INR45 crore was exported in August at an average price of US$3.42 per kg. Iran was the top importer worth US$0.97 million, followed by Turkey and Belgium. Sri Lanka was the fourth largest importer of viscose yarn during the month.
Blended spun yarns worth US$38.50 million were exported in August, down 28% YoY. During the month, 8 million kg of PC yarns was exported worth US$20 million while 3.5 million kg of PV yarns were exported worth US$10 million. Egypt, Turkey and Brazil, were the largest importers of PC yarn from India while Turkey was the single largest im-porter of PV yarns from India followed distantly by Iran.
All kinds of filament yarns shipment totaled 67 million kg (down 3%. YoY), valued at US$111 million (down 15%. YoY). Only nylon and polypropylene filament yarn exports were positive in value terms and also showed substantial in-creases.
