India has the world’s second largest spinning capacity after China, commanding a share of the global Cotton Yarn market – currently producing over 4700 Mn. Kgs of spun yarn of which over 3,400 Mn. Kgs is cotton yarn. Cotton Yarn accounts for nearly 73% of total spun yarn production. Indian Spinning Industry is the most modern and efficient in the world.

The world’s most renowned Indian Cotton Yarns are available as greige, bleached, mercerized, gassed, twisted, dyed or an endless range of fashion yarns like mélange, stretch, blends, high twist and so on to meet the different applications in fashion, clothing, home textiles, hosiery, and industrial fabrics. India is the biggest producer of denim in the world with the world-famous brands like Arvind, Jindal, Aarvee, Pratap Spintex, Etco Denim, Raymond and so on.

Today, Indian cotton yarn is widely accepted in International markets as the exporters here regularly meet the needs of importers with unmatched efficiency and economy in countries like USA, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Vietnam etc.

The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in India and across the globe from mid-March 2020 has created negative impact on prices and production and thereof on the Yarn demand. Cotton yarn spinning sector is completely dependent on production and prices of cotton. Over the past few years, not only production of cotton decreased in India, but also its prices have increased. Cotton production in India has reduced from 398 lakh bales in 2013-14 to 357 lakh bales in 2019-20. Prices of raw cotton increased by over 10% during the same period. This has put considerable burden on the spinning industry. Price increase in cotton yarn has not been sufficient to match the increasing cost of raw materials and highly fluctuating cotton prices. India’s domestic consumption of cotton yarn is well below its production and its exports are also declining (from 1,313.43 million kg in 2013-14 to 959.79 million kg 2019-20 at a CAGR of about (-) 3%).Both low domestic consumption and decline in exports are leading to surplus production of cotton yarn in the country, which is harming the spinning industry.

Value-wise, in 2019-20 the cotton yarn exports declined by 29.4 per cent to US $ 2,760.51 from US $ 3,895.52 in 2018-19. Bangladesh, China and Egypt remained the top three exporting countries for India. India shipped cotton yarn worth US $ 590.57 million to Bangladesh in 2019-20 (-20.03 per cent); US $ 590.57 million (down 53.92 per cent) to China and US $ 181.79 million (-1.11%) to Egypt. The share of Vietnam in China’s total imports of cotton yarn has increased from 7.61% in 2009 to 36.66% in 2018, while that of India has increased from 7.75% to 21.74% during the same period. India also faces duty challenges in export markets vis-à-vis competing countries. Pakistan and Bangladesh levy higher rates of duty on Indian yarn, while they enjoy duty free or concessional duty access in India. India is lagging in cotton exports to major markets due to a duty disadvantage vis-a-vis Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan. Countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam enjoy duty-free access in world’s largest cotton yarn markets such as China.

The global cotton yarn market decreased by -2.8% to $ 77.20 B in 2019, after the prominent growth recorded in 2018 when the market value increased by 18% y-o-y.

Consumption By Country

The countries with the highest volumes of cotton yarn consumption in 2019 were China (8.1M tonnes), India (4.3M tonnes), and Pakistan (3.2M tonnes), together comprising 74% of global consumption. China remains the global leader in terms of cotton yarn production and consumption. The Chinese textile industry has experienced a rapid transformation over the last two decades. Thus, there was a boom in the synthetic yarn industry in China since the late 1990-s, while cotton yarn output remained relatively stable. Other countries with the highest volumes of cotton yarn production in 2019 include India (5.3M tonnes) and Pakistan (3.7M tonnes), with a combined 72% share of global production. Turkey, Vietnam, the U.S. and Brazil lagged somewhat behind, together comprising a further 16%.

Imports

In 2019, approx. 4.5M tonnes of cotton yarn were imported worldwide, which is down by -3.1% compared with the year before. The most prominent rate of growth was recorded in 2015 with an increase of 8.6% year-to-year. As a result, imports attained a peak of 4.8M tonnes. In value terms, cotton yarn imports dropped to $13.7B in 2019.

Looking at the increase in recent demand for yarn in the domestic market, a lot of small spinners who had closed during lockdown period have restarted their mills from October 2020. National Textile Corporation (NTC) have announced that they are restarting around 40% of their spindle capacity which has been idle since the lockdown. The present situation is only a temporary phenomenon and market forces will ensure that the demand-supply balance is restored in due course. Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) have sent an advisory to all Member Mills to ensure uninterrupted yarn supply to the knitting and weaving sectors and avoid undue volatility in prices.

(to be continued in issue XXXIV)