Russia, since break up of Soviet Union, has undergone significant changes. Moving from a globally-isolated, centrally-planned economy towards a more market-based and globally-integrated one. Russia is now a growing market with about 144 million population. Russia imported nearly $14 billion textiles and apparels with $5 billion of only textile product from the world in 2013. However, its import of textile and clothing from India during 2013 was only $338 million (8 per cent). Russia’s import of man-made fibre textiles in 2013 was $3 billion. However, import of man-made fibre from India was only $24 million accounting for 0.8 per cent of total imports of MMF textiles.

A promising market

Russia is a growing market for Indian MMF textiles and exports were worth Rs $24 million in 2013-14, a growth of around 2 per cent compared to the previous year. India’s current share is below one per cent in Russia’s import of $3 billion of MMF textiles during 2013. Thus, there is substantial scope for exports of Indian MMF textiles and to increase our market share in Russia.

The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) report suggests Indian textile manufacturers and exporters should explore the Russian market with the aim of enhancing exports and raising foreign exchange. Russia’s imports alone are worth about $14 billion textile products a year and despite India being one of the leading textile exporting countries, its textile exports to Russia are extremely low, at just $300 million. Besides focusing on markets in Europe and America, textile producers and exporters should penetrate the Russian market that was spending $ 3 billion a year on imports of man-made fibre textile. It may also be pointed out that Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine are also potential textile markets and Russia may be a gateway for exports of Indian textiles including MMF textiles to these countries, points out the SRTEPC report.