India gains from Chinas's bra wars with the West

Mumbai: After EU and US imposed a restriction on ten apparel items exported by China, the biggest gainer in the "bra wars" has been India.

With Chinese products out in the US and the EU, made-in-India skirts and blouses are on high demand in these markets resulting in a 20-per cent increase in the export of these items in the last three months, compared with the corresponding period of the last year.

The EU and US imposed restrictions on Chinese imports after the influx of imports of products from China, including bras, pullovers, men's trousers, blouses, T-shirts, dresses, flax yarns, cotton fabrics, bed linen, and table and kitchen linen - led to a job cut of 13-per cent in the textiles sector in the EU. The US also imposed higher tariff on these items.

Exporters say rising demand for blouses and skirts has helped Indian apparel exporters post a 16 per cent growth in September against 11 per cent in August.

The Office of Textiles Exports of America date (OTEXA) shows that India exported 710.39 million metres of apparel in June, 715.96 million metres in July and 730.50 million metres in August. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia and Vietnam also stood to gain.

Should the trend continue the worth of Indian apparel exports will go up to Rs35,000 crore from Rs30,000 crore by the end of 2005-06. The combined export of blouses, skirts and T-shirts stood at Rs9,000 crore last year.

According to a CII study, India has emerged the second most preferred alternative after China in textiles and is seen as a "one-stop shop" for retailers and apparel companies looking for a reliable destination for their sourcing solutions.

China has a growing domestic market, which consumes seven per cent of the total textile production. Chinese buyers too are not keen on making China a one-stop sourcing destination for textiles due to the uncertainties arising out of the safeguards, quotas and revaluation of Yuan, it said.

Indian still needs to improve on the economic and infrastructure fronts. It needs to improve its labour laws, develop world-class infrastructure and build international scale of operations, CII said.

Buyers and suppliers will have to adapt to more drastic changes in future trade as compared to the first phase of the post-quota regime, the study said.