Knitwear exports from Tirupur grew 1.5 per cent in January 2023.

The first month of this calendar year has brought some cheer to textile manufacturers in Tirupur. Knitwear exports rose marginally after falling for five consecutive months. For the ten-month period total knitwear exports from Tirupur grew by three per cent. The knitwear segment in Tirupur has seen some improvements now when compared with December 2022 quarter. The cotton yarn movement that was sluggish over six months has now got revived. With increasing enquiries/orders from garment units, spinning mills have now started running for seven days as against four days earlier. Knitwear exports from Tirupur started to decline in August 2022 as a result of the Russian-Ukraine war. High inflation and recessionary trends led to subdued demand for textiles and apparel in the US and European markets. During August 2022 to December 2022, total knitwear exports from Tirupur fell by 21 per cent when compared with the previous year. With gradual improvements from January 2023, Tirupur exporters hope to start fiscal year 2024 with good growth in the June 2023 quarter when compared with the March 2023 quarter. Meanwhile, Tirupur exporters feel bringing down the interest cost for export credit will provide the much-needed competitiveness to exports.