By IANS
Ahmedabad : Exports of Indian textiles, including readymade garments, have consolidated their presence in the tough markets of Europe in the past two years, according to official data.
The markets in which Indian textiles have made considerable inroads are Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Traditionally, the main European markets have been Italy, France and to an extent Germany.
According to the latest country-wise textile export data of the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence for April 2006-07 compared with the same period previous year, Belgium imported Indian textiles worth $266 million, up 28 percent.
Portugal’s imports worth $109 million were a 75 percent increase. The Netherlands imported $330 million worth of textiles, marking an increase of 25 percent. Poland was another surprise with an increase of 23 percent.
Exports to China worth $453 million were an increase of 83 percent.
The data also reveals some significant facts. While increases to traditional markets such as the US and Britain were not much, heart-warming increases were marked in Syria (47 percent), Morocco (61 percent), Iran (34 percent), Indonesia (52 percent), Pakistan (85 percent), Mexico (36 percent), Mauritius (26 percent) and Thailand (52 percent).
In the product basket, apparels and clothing accessories continued to be on the top rung of the ladder with export earnings worth $6.4 billion, an increase of eight percent.
Made-up textiles and carpets were next with total export earnings of $2.6 billion, up four percent.
Fabric exports stood at over $1.9 billion, and were a six percent increase, which were closely followed by yarn exports that generated earnings of some $1.9 billion, a big increase of 20 percent.
There was a sharp increase also in the export earnings of raw silk, cotton, manmade staple fibres and wool.