China dents Jetpur's textile exports

The Chinese have snatched away a traditional African market of 'Khanga' and 'Kitanga' styles of cotton dressing from Indian suppliers from the Saurashtra region in Gujarat.

China has made a dent of over Rs 100 crore in the business of dyeing and printing units based in Jetpur, near Rajkot.

"Our exports to African countries have dwindled down from over Rs 300 crore two years ago to around Rs 200 crore in the current year," said Virjibhai Vekaria, president of Jetpur Dyeing & Printing Association.

A small town between Rajkot and Junagadh, Jetpur supplies the Khanga-Kitanga segment of cotton dressing code to African countries, mainly on the east and the west coasts of the continent. The countries from East Africa and West Africa import this dressing from Jetpur-based processors over the last 15-plus years.

"Nearly 1.65 metre long piece of cloth with square borders is known as Khanga in East and West Africa and locals mostly use this to cover their heads," said Vekaria. Kitango is a 12-metre long cloth used by the Africans mainly to wrap up the waist, he added.

"Jetpur alone contributed 80 per cent of the Khanga-Kitanga segment requirement till 2001. But choice of textiles in the continent has gradually changed with the Chinese products being marketed aggressively, and now Jetpur hardly contributes 40-45 per cent of the entire requirement of Khanga-Kitanga," Jitendra Bosamia, a Jetpur-based businessman, said.

Vekaria said the Chinese have not only been good at marketing their products in the African continent but also in strengthening their political ties with the African nations.

"Chinese embassies or missions are proactive in pushing and marketing their products to the Africans," he said.

As far as Jetpur is concerned, Vekaria said, competition with the Chinese in cloth business is currently limited only to Khanga-Kitanga, but it may not be the same for long according to the traders from the town.

They feel Jetpur will have to make drastic changes in its other types of cotton products as well to make them more competitive in terms of production cost and quality including dyeing and printing.

"Our cost of production has gone up 30 per cent in the last one year owing to several factors, and this has been largely responsible for losing out to the Chinese in competition," he said.