The Hindu Business Line : Asian textile nations to join hands to rule global markets

ON the heels of the Asian oil diplomacy launched by the Indian Government, it is now the turn of the textile producing nations in the region to join forces to take on the world.

Having dominated the global textile trade since the freeing of quota restrictions from January 1 this year, Asian textile majors are now looking to further consolidate their supremacy by entering into `collaborative production sharing arrangements' with each other.

As a first step, industry delegations from major Asian textile and apparel nations, including China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, are planning to congregate in India for an Asian textile conference, tentatively during December, to work out a collaborative strategy to take on the world markets. The event, a first of its kind following the quota phase-out, is being organised by the Indian textile industry led by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry.

It is broadly expected that a healthy co-operation between Asian countries can be fostered since the freeing of the quotas has led the industry in most Asian nations to develop niche areas. This thus increases the possibility of a complementary relationship among the industry across Asia.

For instance, while Pakistan specialises in coarse varieties of yarn and heavier fabric, India has developed a niche in light varieties of yarn and lighter fabric. China specialises in both fabrics and garments, while Korea and Taiwan concentrate on producing man-made fibres and filaments. Indonesia is also a big player in the man-made fibre market.

"There is ample scope for collaboration since each country is specialising in more-or-less distinct products, which either form inputs for the textile sector in another Asian nation or is a finished product using inputs from other countries. Such collaborations could prove to enhance the cost competitiveness of Asian products as a whole," an industry representative involved in the exercise said.

With the exception of India, China, and to some extent Pakistan, the industry in other Asian countries does not have a complete textile value chain — from raw material to the finished product.

Such collaborations between Asian countries currently exist, though in a relatively nascent form. The man-made fibre and filaments produced by Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia find their way into China, India and Pakistan, where the industry use these products to make garments.

Similarly, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which do not have an integrated textile industry set-up, import inputs from China, India and Pakistan to feed their garment industry.

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