India’s trade of apparel and textile products with China is following the trend of overall trade with the neighbouring country. India’s trade deficit with China continues to widen in current fiscal 2022-23, similar to 2021-22. India’s imports from China are increasing but exports are quite lower and declining which is causing higher trade deficit. In the financial year 2021-22, India’s trade deficit with China was recorded at $72.9 bn, up nearly $29 bn from FY21’s figure of $44 bn, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.
In May 2022, India exported goods worth $1.6 bn to China, over 25 percent lower than the $2.1 bn in May 2021. On the other hand, India’s imports recorded a growth of 5.47 percent in May 2022 compared to the same month last year. Likewise, for the April and May combined, India’s exports to China fell nearly 31 percent from $4.4 bn in the same months of 2021 to $3 bn in 2022. On the other hand, imports grew 12.75 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.
For the second straight year, India and China may cross a total trade figure of $100 bn. In 2021-22, the total trade volume between the two neighbours stood at $115 bn, according to the figures from India’s Ministry of Commerce and China’s General Administration of Customs. A similar trend can be seen in India’s apparel and home textiles trade with China.
India’s apparel imports from China registered continuous increase since February 2022 and reached at $87.901 mn in May 2022, according to market insight tool TexPro. On annual basis, the import was 1145.475 mn in 2021, 838.195 in 2020 and 1026.676 mn in 2019. It shows apparel import dipped during COVID-19 and military confrontation in 2020. But it jumped in the following year. The import stood at 349.103 mn in first five months of 2022.
India’s home textile imports from China stood at $36.109 mn in May 2022, up from $24.756 mn of April. The import was $20.047 mn in March 2022, $16.675 mn in February 2022, and $36.742 mn in January 2022. The import of home textiles from China was $356.734 mn in 2021, $327.791 mn in 2020 and $485.444 mn in 2019. The import stood at $134.331 mn in January-May 2022, as per TexPro.
However, India’s export of apparel and home textiles was very meagre compared to import. Apparel export was $7.673 mn in May 2022 which was declining since March 2022 when the export was $13.387 mn. Annually, the export was $104.553 mn in 2021, $94.398 mn in 2020 and $151.246 mn in 2019. India has exported apparel worth $50.774 mn in first five months of this year.
India’s home textile export to China stood at $3.191 mn in May 2022, up from $2.958 mn of April but down from March 2022’s figure of $4.364 mn. Home textiles export to China was $48.884 mn in 2021, $65.345 mn in 2020 and $44.351 mn in 2019. The export was $17.234 mn in January-May 2022.
