"This requires identification of what the main challenges are; what changes are likely to take place; and how to address them to achieve higher market share rather than losing it," NTTFC Secretary said in a letter sent to Ministry of Textiles on February 16.
An Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) policy brief titled 'A new World Map in Textiles and Clothing' has also been circulated to the Ministry of Textiles and other concerned trade bodies for taking appropriate action to meet the challenges presented to the textiles and clothing industry by elimination of WTO/ATC.
The OECD has produced the brief after studying these issues. The brief says : "... the elimination of quota restrictions will open the way for the most competitive developing countries to develop stronger clusters of textile expertise, enabling them to handle all stages of the production chain from growing natural fibres to producing finished clothing. The recent surge in China's imports of up-to-date textile and clothing machinery bears witness to this trend and points to the future sources of textile and clothing production and exports.
The textile industry is also undergoing a major reorientation towards non-clothing applications of textiles, known as technical textiles, which represent the fastest growing segment of total textile applications. It is estimated that technical textiles are growing at roughly twice the rate of textiles for clothing applications and now account for more than half of total textile production.
Countries that aspire to maintain an export-led strategy in textiles and clothing need to complement their cluster of expertise in manufacturing by developing their expertise in the higher value-added service segments of the supply chain such as design, sourcing or retail distribution. To pursue these avenues, national suppliers need to place greater emphasis on education and training of services-related skills and to encourage the establishment of joint structures where domestic suppliers can share market knowledge and offer more integrated solutions to prospective buyers. Education and training are the single most effective means of achieving the objective of fostering entrepreneurship.
The international competitiveness of textile and clothing suppliers will be enhanced in countries that maintain a competitive environment and spur investment in innovative telecommunications equipment, electricity generation and distributions systems."