By Sanjay Arora, Wazir Advisors (sanjay@wazir.in)
France is among the top 5 importers of Textile and Apparel (T&A) in the World. France imported T&A articles worth US$ 31.3 bn. in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 3% since 2015. On the exports side, France registered a growth in T&A exports of CAGR 4 % over the last five years to reach US$ 17.3 bn. in 2019 from 14.8 bn. in 2015.
Imports Profile of France
With efficient supply chain management, modern industrial infrastructure, and low-cost products China over the years has managed to be the largest exporter of T&A to the world and France is no different. China holds a 24% share in total T&A imports of France. Among the other suppliers, Bangladesh, Italy and Turkey, and India followed China with a share of 10%, 9%, 6%, 5%, respectively.
There is significant share of Apparel (77%) imports in France’s overall T&A imports. Within the apparel segment Knitted T-shirts, Cardigans, and Men’s cotton woven trousers were the largest imported commodities in 2019. Apparel category is followed by manmade textiles and cotton textiles with a combined share of 14%.
India’s Textile and Apparel exports to France
Between 2015 and 2018, India’s T&A exports to France grew steadily at a CAGR of 2% from US$ 1.38 bn to US$ 1.48 bn in 2018. Despite a decline of 5% between 2018 and 2019, India’s market share in France’s T&A imports has remained solid at 5% over the last 5 years.
Apparel dominated India’s T&A exports to France with a share of 79%, followed by cotton textiles and manmade textiles with a share of 8% and 7%, respectively.
As mentioned earlier, India’s share in France’s imports of T&A is a mere 5%, which demonstrates that there is an enormous potential for Indian suppliers to increase their share in the market. A closer look at India’s closest competitors (i.e., Bangladesh, Italy and Turkey) reveals that India enjoys cost advantage when compared to Turkey and Itay. However, all these competitors currently enjoy a duty-free access to France (European Union) which makes them much more attractive than India. Interestingly, in late 2020, World Trade Organization uplifted Bangladesh from the status of Least Developed Country to that of a Developing Country. This has major repercussion on Bangladesh, since it is set to lose its duty-free access to EU. This could benefit the manufacturers in India. Currently, imports from India currently attract 9.6% trade duty on apparel in France. India has to leverage its large production base and competitively price its products by maintaining manufacturing excellence, technology innovations, on-time delivery to meet the demand of French consumers. Wazir Advisors, your trusted business advisor in Textile and Apparel sector can assist you in strategy formulation and implementation, forming alliances and joint ventures, investments, market understanding, sector analysis and due diligence, thereby providing end-to-end solutions spanning the complete business cycle in textile value chain. Wazir can also help you in understanding and strategizing your business to align well with the French Textile and Apparel market.