Surat's textile exporters eyeing US market.

SURAT: After Indian diamond industry, the country's biggest man-made fabric (MMF) sector in the Diamond City is eyeing the United States of America to increase the export of non-apparel fabrics.

In 2013, the USA imported textiles and apparel worth $104 billion, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the US Department of Commerce. Of the total US textile and apparel imports, cotton products accounted for $51.615 billion, while man-made fibre (MMF) products were worth $46.685 billion, followed by $4.713 billion of wool products and $1.710 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

The textile sector in the city weaves around 3 crore metres of fabric per day. The annual production of fabric is pegged at 9 billion metres, which account for 60 per cent of the total production of polyester cloth in the country worth Rs 30,000 crore.

Around 90 per cent of the textile production is dedicated to saris and dress materials and the rest go into home textiles.

Narayan Agarwal, regional chairman, Synthetic Rayon Textile Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), told TOI, "There is a major increase in the import of non-apparel MMF products by the USA. Looking at this increasing trend and buoyant US economy, textile exporters in Surat and other places in south Gujarat are confident of increased exports of fabrics in 2014."

According to Agarwal, China accounted for 39.79 per cent share of all the US textile and garment imports in 2013 at $41.673 billion. Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh were among the top five suppliers of textiles and clothing to the USA during the year, contributing 8.38 per cent, 6.01 per cent, 4.99 per cent and 4.87 per cent share, respectively.

Surat exports around Rs 1,100 crore worth of non-apparel fabric to Pakistan, West Asia and the USA. The export percentage to the USA is quite low compared to Pakistan and West Asia.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com