| India Wool Exports Up (May 1, 2006) The first year of a quota free environment, due to the World Trade Organization (WTO), has provided good results for India, especially in the textiles and apparel sector. The wool textile sector has done remarkably well, with the export of wool and woolens up by 20 percent in 2004 to 2005, as compared to the previous year. The industry is expecting better performance by the end of this financial year, to the tune of 30 percent. The director of the Woolmark India/Southeast Asia division projected that the consumption of Australian wool by the Indian manufacturing sector will double over the next five years. "The changes that are occurring world wide in respect to where wool is processed continues," comments Rita Kourlis Samuelson, wool marketing director for the American Sheep Industry Association. "With the elimination of quotas, India, like other countries, has been able to capitalize by increasing the volume of their textile exports. "The WTO negotiations that have abolished many of the textile-quota systems have contributed to the exodus of wool-processing plants in the more developed countries, like the United States and Europe, to the less developed countries, like India and China, where processing can be completed at a much-reduced cost," Kourlis concludes. |
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