The year 2020 keeps on giving and the cotton textiles sector is not immune to multiple pressures.
With the arrival of autumn, harvest is on the horizon in the High Plains of Texas and the beginning of a new cotton season in India from 1 October.
2020 started with lingering trade tensions between two leading producers of cotton: China and the United States. Tensions continue at a high level between these two countries, enhanced by the current pandemic. Factors as varied as political, trade and economic have caught up, which have implications for the cotton and textile sectors in general. With mandatory lockdowns for six weeks in countries, including India, during the peak of the pandemic, industries are slowly gearing back to speed, reaching 70-80% capacity utilisation.
The old adage of ‘consumers are king’ holds true and more importantly in present times. With over 30 million people on some form of unemployment benefits in the US, consumer confidence and spending will determine the near-term fate of the global textile industry. With the US presidential election just around the corner, Covid-19 and the economy are the two leading deciding factors, among other ideological issues. These factors clearly influence the global textile and manufacturing sectors.
Cost competitiveness, good quality and value-added products are the way forward for the industry. The US and Europe are still leading consumers, and the economy in these regions will determine the speedy recovery of the global textile industry.
Interestingly, the current global crisis is reshaping the global textile sector’s space with more eyes on East Africa, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. While China is the 600-pound gorilla, continuing trade tensions, Covid-19 impacts, and the Xinjiang issue are being carefully watched by competing countries like India to capture the market share. Cotton-exporting countries like the US and Australia value China as a major player because of its buying power and need; however, attention needs to be paid to recent geopolitical conditions.
Cotton textile manufacturing giants like India are seriously expanding their product basket so that weak links, such as the finishing, garmenting and synthetic fibre sectors, can enhance their strength against China. Given the strength of Bangladesh in its garment sector due to relative low-cost labour and beneficial trade agreements that exist for Vietnam and Bangladesh, developing value-added products and enhancing the product basket are viable options for India.
Covid-19 has clearly highlighted the need for technical textiles that go into making PPE. More importantly, a lack of continued investment in this sector, even in the US, has exposed its vulnerability in critical life-saving products.
From my personal efforts for over 20 years both in the US and India in nonwovens and advanced textiles, it is clear that the technical textiles sector has gained momentum, and it must branch out into R&D investments and new product development using cost-effective sustainable materials and processes. It also highlights the fact that developments do not come over night and need years of efforts in terms of both intellectual and capital investments. Again, as a person involved with the development of the Indian technical textiles sector since 1999, I could visualise how the industry came together to develop PPE products in this Covid-19 situation. This did not happen overnight, but instead with a sustained government push for this sector since the early 2000s.
Market diversification and product enhancements must be given serious attention – a take home message from the current pandemic for the textile sector. Indeed, masks are the new face of the world.
