The UAE is the world’s third largest exporter of textiles after the US and UK, according to a study. The country has a 7.75 per cent share of the global export market, it said.

The country exported $1.624 billion worth of textiles, the study conducted by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata, India, was quoted a saying.

Midhat M Abu Ghazaleh, CEO, Abughazaleh Trading Company (Abco) said of the total textile global exports of over $ 20. 94 billion, the UAE commands a share of 7.75 per cent, which reflects strongly on the development of the country’s textile industry.

The US has a share of 20.38 per cent share and the UK 8.11 per cent.

The following is the share of other major countries: Germany -7.65 per cent, France -4.46 per cent, Italy - 3.74 per cent, Spain - 3.08 per cent, Netherlands - 2.57 per cent, Bangladesh - 2.83 per cent and China - 2.10 per cent. These top 10 countries occupy a combined share of 62.30 per cent of the total global exports of textile, the study said.

The total textile and apparel trade globally is expected to reach $805 billion by 2015, from $650 billion in 2010, it said.

“The UAE has overcome the challenges of the global market such as volatility in price, rising input cost, energy crisis and lack of marketing exposure. The secret of textile industry success in the UAE is that the country sets up trends that others follow,” Ghazaleh said head of a major textile industry event in Dubai.

“The UAE textile industry is the largest trading sector in the country after oil, and is also one of the biggest employment providers in the industrial sector,” he added.

Ghazaleh said: “The textile industry is undergoing a major reorientation toward non-clothing applications, known as technical textiles, which are growing roughly at twice the rate of textiles for clothing applications and now account for more than half of total textile production.”

Technical textiles have many applications, including bedsheets; filtration and abrasive materials; furniture and healthcare upholstery; thermal protection and blood-absorbing materials; seatbelts; adhesive tape, and multiple other specialized products and applications.

“Most of the production of jute, yarn, apparel, clothing and garments takes place in Asian countries like China and India, both leading manufacturers of textiles. The UAE, being strategically located as a border market to the major production areas, is doing very well, in re-exporting to all parts of the world. This can be attributed to the ease in logistics as well as the low costs of shipping in and out of the country.”

Abco is one of the leading general trading companies in the UAE since 1975. It is a wholesale distributor and manufacturer of all types of apparel, footwear, luggage, hand bags and household products. – TradeArabia News Service