About 4,000 GBP Crore worth clothing and compositions produced in Tiruppur and Karur in Tamil Nadu and exported to the US every year will probably face challenges because of the recent tariff announced by US President Donald Trump.
KM Subramanian, President of the Tiruppur Exporters Association, said that about 30% of clothing (worth about 2,000 GBP) balanced from Tiruppur goes to the US a year, 10% are basic products that face hard competition from other countries. “Exporters who supply multiple markets will be able to manage. If they add only the US, they will face problems,” he said.
In the last few months, buyers have visited Tiruppur and placed orders with manufacturers here after viewing factories and abilities. Exporters also submitted details about their green and social initiatives. “It will be difficult for the buyer difficult to go to another country immediately. We hope the US problem will be resolved and the obligations will soon be reduced,” he said.
Exporters usually start supplying Christmas for Christmas until the last August or September on September. Exports hope to reduce the tariff by then. However, they expect buyers to have hard negotiations with suppliers. “Exporters are currently working on 5% to 10% margin, depending on the brand they supply,” added Mr. Subramananian.
President of the Association of Exporters of Karur Exporters P. Gopalakrishnan said that Karur supplies 2,000 GBP to the holiday period of home fabric (table span, kitchen bedding and living room fabric). “The US market is now slow for about a year and a half. Several retailers have stops. Although there is no competition for Karur products, the Chinese produce a lot of kitchen linen with artificial fiber. Karur has no ability to correspond to a Chinese scale or a range of products,” he said.
Units and traders in the US hoped India would get lower rates. Everyone wants to move from China. The current rates came as a shock. “The US market will be challenging for Karur,” he said.
While manufacturers and exporters are trying to embark on new products and markets, the central government should restore interest in the subsidy and look at financial support to exporters, he added.
The Indian Textile Indian Confederation (CITI) said the government to facilitate the availability of raw materials at internationally competitive prices will show valuable support to the textile sector.
During January to 2025, American imports of textiles and clothing from India were awarded $ 4.59 billion.
The new US for Bangladesh is 20 %, 19 % for Indonesia and Cambodia and 20 % for Vietnam. Currently, China is the largest exporter of textiles and clothing to the US, followed by Vietnam, India and Bangladesh.
Rrakesh Mehra, chairman of Citi, said: “The latest American tariff announcements after tariff rates have been significantly reduced for many countries, including Bangladesh, which we will compete for a larger US market will be difficult to compose with Indian textile and clothing exporters.
Published – 1 August 2025 20:56
