Imports of textile machinery from Korea in the last two years reveal growing capital goods imports by Indian textile industry to cash on the business opportunity in the quota-free trade environment.
Textile machinery imports of 2003-04 stood at $40 million and have risen by 25 percent to $50 million by 2004-05, reported officials from the Korea Trade Centre (Kotra).
Korean textile companies want to capitalise on Indian textile boom, which is expected to consolidate its textile machinery purchase with a view to increase the content of value addition in textile production in terms of quality and fabric innovation, said In-Taeg Lim, Director General of Kotra.
Embroidery machinery is one of the high-demand items of India in Korea? textile machinery export. Imports of this machinery were $3 million in 2003-04 and continued to flourish in 2004-05.
Moreover, as per the data for the first eight months of the year, the import of Korean embroidery units had surpassed $3.3 million mark.
Speaking on the competitiveness of China? textile machinery industry as observed by India in comparison with Korean machinery, Yong Hyun Chang, the KOTMA Chairman, said that higher amount of imports of second hand machinery by India including those from Korea might be one of the reasons for the ?nvisibility?of Korean machinery in India.
Cheap machinery of China is another reason, though the offering would not be great in terms of technology.
Chang added that it is difficult for Korea to sustain by manufacturing inferior technology machinery. While, China continues to import high-end textile machinery from Korea.
Industry representatives associated with KOTMA expect to explore possibility of forming joint ventures agreement for complete machinery or accessories supplies to Indian market.
This is the first move in upgrading textile machinery of Korea by assessing the market environment in India, before it could progress with its strategies, said Chang.
