Orders flow in for meat and cotton yarn exporters

Meat and cotton yarn suppliers have started getting export orders after a sharp dip in trade in recent weeks. Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have a huge demand for buffalo meat, industry executives said.

“Demand for meat increases during Rama-dan, which begins on April 23. We are witnessing higher number of enquiries from buyers and some of the exporters have even started signing contracts,” said Fauzan Alavi, spokesperson for All-India Meat & Livestock Exporters Association.

Export orders dipped by about 48% to 65,000 tonne in March, according to industry estimates. India exports 10-12 lakh tonne of buffalo meat valued at Rs 20,000 crore every year.


“Buffalo meat processors have started sanitising premises and following health guidelines for workers, logistics and supply chain to address importers’ concerns ahead of the opening of units from April 20," said Alavi.

He said beef export will recover the fastest among all agri-export commodities on account of the upcoming festival season and producers’ preparedness.

Indian exporters said that the buyers were giving less price compared to two months ago, but the gap will be compensated by rupee's fall.

“Cotton yarn manufacturers in Gujarat and Punjab have started getting orders from China where the markets have started opening now. Also, orders are coming from Taiwan and Vietnam. Last week, India sold 300 containers of cotton yarn to China after a gap of two months,” said Rahul Shah, MD, ACME Group.

He added that fabric and garment factories which started getting closed from January in China were currently operating at 50% capacity. As per the industry sources, China accounts for 45% India’s cotton yarn exports.

Shah said the prices were down by 10% to 12% compared to a month ago at $2.45-2.60 per kg, but weakening rupee has helped gain competitive edge for them.

India has competitive edge over Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia in Chinese market due to our lower prices, said Sanjay K Jain, MD of New Delhi based TT Limited, an integrated textiles company.

“Some order flow has started, but prices in dollar terms are 12% to 13% lower. As most exporters have uncovered currency positions due to cancellation of orders, hence the rupee depreciation will help after a month,” he said.