Poor demand hits export industry in Panipat

Mukesh Tandon

Sonepat, December 6

Poor response from overseas buyers has hit the Panipat export industry badly. Even the Christmas season this year has failed to bring in more trade for exporters as the demand has shrunk by more than 50 per cent throughout this year.

The slowdown of around 60 per cent in the export business, which started last year, has also hit the textile industry, including spinning mills, yarn, weaving, dyeing and packaging.

Panipat, which is globally known as ‘Textile City’, has a turnover of approximately Rs 50,000 crore annually, of which around Rs 15,000 crore is from exports only.

Rs 15,000 crore yearly turnover

• Panipat, which is globally known as ‘Textile City’, has a turnover of approximately Rs 50,000 crore annually, of which around Rs 15,000 crore is from exports only
• An exporter said he had spent 22 days on a Europe tour and held 25 meetings with buyers but orders failed to fructify. Another exporter said he had also failed to get a positive response from buyers

An exporter said he had spent almost 22 days on a Europe tour and held 25 meetings with buyers but orders had failed to fructify. Another exporter said he had also spent a long time in European markets but failed to get any positive response.

Panipat Exporters’ Association chief Lalit Goyal said recession in the export business had started to begin in the last quarter of last year and the impact was still there. There were hardly any fresh orders from overseas buyers this year, he added.

The overseas market which was badly hit after the Russia-Ukraine war began, the trader said. The exporters who attended international fairs in Germany and other countries also failed to get a good response from overseas buyers, Goyal added.

Young Entrepreneur Society (YES) chief Raman Chhabra said Panipat export industries had been dealing with a crisis for almost a year now. There were hardly any fresh orders, he added.

USA are the biggest buyers of Panipat’s handloom products — home furnishing (curtains, bed covers, pillow covers, accessories, etc.) and floor covers (bath mats, carpets, rugs, etc.) but there has been a recession this year. Scores of chain stores are lying shut. Some of them have even gone bankrupt and the high inflation has hit the export industry by almost 60 per cent, he said.

The second biggest hub for Panipat’s industry are European countries and Germany is the door for Europe but the Russia-Ukraine war has badly hit the European market for over two years now, he said.

Presently, recession in Germany is at a high level and these sentiments are affecting the entire European market, Chhabra said.

Chairman of the Panipat chapter of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce, Dhamija said conditions in US and Europe are very bad economically, due to which the export industry here has been slowing down with each passing day.