Global brands like Walmart have started lifting orders from Tirupur’s garment makers, after a gap of several months. This renewed business has led to a growth in knitwear exports which increased 1.5 per cent in dollar terms and 11.6 per cent in rupee terms in January.
According to the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA), global brands have started placing more orders from the region.
The garment units in Tirupur had fallen silent during the pandemic due to high yarn prices, the aftershocks of demonetisation and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
“Walmart has started lifting orders from January. We have seen orders of about Rs. 80-100 crore,” said Sivaswamy Sakthivel, Executive Secretary, TEA.
“We are now getting orders from all the big brands like Primark and Walmart,” said K M Subramanian, President, TEA.
In January, exports from Tirupur increased by 1.5 per cent – from US $ 407 million in 2021-22 to US $ 413 million in 2022-23.
Also Read: Tirupur’s knitwear export witnessed marginal positive growth in January
The rise in exports comes after a drop of 14.7 per cent in August, 30.7 per cent in September, 37.8 per cent in October, 6.9 per cent in November and 12.9 per cent in December.
This dip in exports was mainly due to demand from Europe and the US waning due to inflation, recession and the Ukraine war.
Demand was also affected due to the volatility in cotton and yarn prices as well as competition from nations such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Thailand which quoted lesser prices for their garments.
Subramaniam noted that the region received more orders, in part, to Turkish factories shutting down as well as reduction in the inventory levels of buyers.
63 per cent of the total knitwear exports from India goes to the US and Europe, with 34 per cent going to the US and 29 per cent going to Europe, followed by 9 per cent to the UK.
“When demand hit a lean patch, the spinning mills were caught in a tight knot, running only four/five days a week. Now, they run seven days a week. This means there is a pressing need and international entities are evincing keen interest,” added Sakthivel.
The Christmas season and New Year sales have had a positive impact in pushing up exports that were going down, according to TEA.
For the entire country, readymade garment exports during the month of January declined by 3.45 per cent to US $ 1.493 billion, compared to US $ 1.546 billion in January last year.
Also Read: Garment exports shrink to US $ 1.493 billion in January, a drop of 3.45 per cent
