For the first time, Bangladesh will beat China to emerge as the largest importer of Indian cotton and cotton products, such as yarn and fabric, in 2016-17, reports financialexpress.com Saturday. According to official data, India’s exports of such items to China, the world’s largest textile and garment exporter, dropped to just $416.14 million in the first half of the current fiscal, while those to Bangladesh touched $613.16 million. With demand from China remaining subdued, India’s exports of such items to that nation are unlikely to rebound anytime soon, senior government and industry officials said. As late as 2011-12, China’s purchases of cotton and cotton products from India were almost four times of Bangladesh’s. In fact, cotton and cotton products had remained India’s largest segment of export items to China for years, accounting for 19-26 per cent of the country’s total supplies to the bigger neighbour until recently. In the first half of this fiscal, though, such items made up for a meagre 10.5% of the country’s overall goods exports to China.The slowdown has been driven by China’s offloading of massive official stocks to consuming industries and a discernible withdrawal from labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and garments due to soaring costs, senior government and industry officials said.
