Trousers, knitwear to drive exports

IN FOCUS / APPAREL EXPORTS

Cotton knit shirts for men and women along with cotton trousers for both the sexes were the major opportunities staring Indian apparel exporters in the face as the global apparel trade was being opened up. Both these categories would be opened up in the world's largest market, USA.

The US market would be open to nearly 75 per cent for knit shirts from 25.2 per cent opened in 2004. The remaining percentage would be opened from January 1, 2005.

India did not figure among the top 10 apparel exporters in USA in 2003 for the category. Indian exporters should start diversifying the export basket to include knit shirts.

For cotton on manmade fibre dresses, 43 per cent of the US market was likely to be opened up in 2005. India had been doing relatively well in the case of cotton dresses so long.

The vast US market for cotton trousers for men and women would be opened up to the extent of 70 per cent in January 2005.

Even though the US market for these two categories was currently expanding rapidly, particularly in women's wear, Indian exporters had hardly exported these items. Thus, there was a great opportunity for developing market share in these two categories.

The study pointed out that in women's knit shorts, the market share of India was less than Mexico. For men's knit shirts, India had lost market share in 2003 over 2002. Thus, there was a significant market opportunity for export of these two items.

Since as much as 70per cent of the US trousers market was to be opened up, and the market was currently expanding in these two categories, this was a huge opportunity.

On an overall basis, Indian apparel exports were poised to enter a new era of quota-free trade post-2005, the study noted.

It was likely that the scenario would offer significant export opportunities to the Indian apparel industry.

However, the extent to which Indian exporters could exploit such opportunities would hinge on their ability to compete effectively with leading apparel exporters like China.

In addition, a critical constraining factor may also be the use of non-tariff measures on India's apparel exports in the post 2005 era, the study cautioned.