FTAs: Garments could form part of early harvest in trade talks with different countries

18 February 2022, Mumbai:

Narendra Goenka, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) quite recently alluded that," Textiles (T&A) will be one of India’s top priority areas in the free-trade agreements (FTAs) which government is currently is the different levels of negotiation with over a dozen countries".

Contextually stating," Historically, Australia’s sourcing for apparel in Pre-covid period was of course mostly from China, but the circumstances have turned the tables as of now given, Australia’s relationship with China has hit a historic low. 

Chairman, Goenka raised serious concerns around the elevated raw material prices that have been a major challenge all these months for the apparel industry.

*Government data, too, shows that the sharp rise in cotton prices has resulted in 97-month high inflation of 8.84% for clothing and footwear products. 

The FTAs will be a game-changer for the textile industry. We have to take full advantage of the FTAs because they can offer a great opportunity for growth, and the government is pushing hard for it.

We have made a case for apparel to be included in the ‘early harvest’ of the FTAs. The commerce ministry is pushing for apparel exports.

ALSO READ: AEPC, N.Goenka, Chairman: The extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to bring relief to apparel exporters

In fact, in all the trade talks, textile and apparel could be part of the early harvest.

There could be a good opportunity after we sign an FTA with the UK.

We are more confident about the UK than Australia because it is a better-established market for India, and there is a good chance the UK offers a very good potential for exports.

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*Figures mentioned in the above article have been sourced from Mint article.