Pandemic effect: Apparel export in Noida down by 32% this year

NOIDA: Due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease outbreak, apparel export from Noida has gone down by about 32% in 2020, as compared to last year. According to officials,

NOIDA: Due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease outbreak, apparel export from Noida has gone down by about 32% in 2020, as compared to last year. According to officials, even the national apparel export has suffered a loss of over 20% due to the pandemic.

HT Image

Lalit Thukral, the president of Noida apparel export cluster (NAEC), said that due to Covid-19, the export of apparel between January and November this year has suffered a decline of ₹8,000 from 2019’s tally for the same period. “Apparel trade, which is integrated with the global value chain, has suffered a lot in both imports and exports due to disruption caused by the pandemic. There has been a severe impact on order position of exporters, global apparel consumption, working capital, raw material and pending refunds. The apparel export from Noida has come down to ₹17,000 crore between January and November this year, as compared to ₹25,000 crore last year for the same span of time,” he said.

He added that overseas buyers and buying houses were either cancelling or postponing confirmed orders indefinitely right from the first day of lockdown in India. “Though the situation was improved to a large extent after the union textile minister’s appeal to do “commerce with compassion”, the fresh lockdown in the UK and other European countries once again worsened the situation for exporters,” Thukral said.

According to data provided by the apparel export promotion council (AEPC), textile and apparel exporters suffered a severe fall of 91% in the month of April this year as compared to the same month last year – the nationwide lockdown was announced from March 25, 2020.

AEPC is the official body of apparel exporters in India.

AEPC chairman, A Sakthivel, said that after the continuous fall in export for five months, the sector witnessed a positive shift in September-October. “India’s apparel exports rose by 10.22% in September this year to $1,190 million, from $1,079 million a year ago. Similarly, it rose by 6.3% in October 2020 to $1,177 million from $1,107 million a year ago. The recovery from the huge fall of April this year to a 10% rise in September corroborates the industry’s belief that the apparel sector is already on its path to a V-shaped recovery,” he said.