Global apparel buyers are negotiating hard with Indian exporters to get products at lower prices. Recently in India, cotton prices have fallen 15% and rupee has depreciated against the dollar which made a chance for buyers to ask products at at the pre-covid level prices. According to a report published in The Economic Times, the impending recessionary pressure in the US and Europe are forcing global brands to negotiate hard with Indian exporters, who have now started looking at other countries like Japan, Australia and Latin America for developing new markets for Indian apparels. [Cotton prices have dropped by 15% from the high of Rs 1 lakh per candy (356 kg). It will fall further in the coming weeks," said Narendra Goenka, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). But the drop in cotton prices have prompted global brands to initiate hard negotiation in the price front. Raja M Shanmugham, President, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) said, [Global buyers now want garments at the pre-covid prices. For instance, the price of a product which we have sold at $7 this year due to high cotton prices, they are now asking to offer it at $5 – the price at which we had sold in pre-covid times." Since rupee has depreciated against dollar, foreign buyers are driving hard bargains to lower the prices of garments. On account of rising dollar index and economic worries, rupee weakened to a fresh record low of 79.41 against the US dollar on Monday as investors continue to favor greenback as safe haven bet. In early morning deals, at the interbank foreign exchange, Indian rupee opened lower at 79.30 and went on to slide further, breaching its previous record low of 79.37 levels. [Despite rupee weakening, we cannot give such a huge discount because cotton prices have not come down to the 2019 level. At best, we can offer a price which is 15% lesser than what we are offering now," said the TEA president.

On 21 August, readymade garment (RMG) manufacturers and textile spinners fixed the price of the widely used 30-carded yarn at a maximum of $4.20 per kilogram. This will settle the recent displeasure and uncertainty among the knitters and terry towel exporters and ensure a smooth supply of cotton yarn. Spinners also guaranteed the RMG and terry towel exporters of safeguarding a constant supply as work order volume has increased from international retailers and brands. Faruque Hassan, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said, [We arrived at a consensus on the yarn price in consultation with the spinners on Saturday night." Mohammad Ali Khokon, President of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) said, [We agreed to set the ceiling of yarn as garment and terry towel manufacturers were demanding lowering of the prices of yarn." As per the resolution, textile spinners will get $4.20 per kg for the 30-carded yarn if the cotton price ranges between $85 cents and $1 per pound in the global markets. Cotton price was $93 cents per pound when the price was set. Apparel leaders opined that if the cotton price goes past $1 per pound, we will sit again to fix the new price limit. Likewise, if the cotton price goes below $85 cents per pound, spinners will also lower the price of yarn accordingly. The price of the 30-carded yarn has been fixed as a benchmark as it accounts for more than 85 percent of the total consumption of raw material in Bangladesh. Khokon assured that the spinners will be able to supply the yarn at the fixed prices. After the BTMA requested them – on August 10 – not to raise the price, the spinners have not increased the prices. RMG manufacturers` craved yarn from the domestic markets as local obtaining gave some advant

Recently the prices of organic cotton, both extra-long staple (ELS) and long staple, have shown an upward trend since June 2021. The price of ELS organic cotton (34.5 mm) has surged by 34 percent and long staple organic cotton (28.5 mm to 34.4 mm) has jumped 108 percent since June. India produces nearly 50 percent of the world`s organic cotton. The price of ELS organic cotton increased by 2.29 percent to ₹338.96 per kg in this month from the average price of ₹331.37 of March-May 2022. Though the average price was ₹330.19 in December 2021-February 2022, ₹297.07 in September-November 2021 and ₹252.87 per kg in June-August 2021 when the prices increased 22.52 percent from average price during the preceding three months. On the other hand, long staple organic cotton recorded average price at ₹330.57 per kg in this month which was 6.42 percent higher than average prices of ₹310.63 in March-May 2022. The prices had registered steep rise from September 2021 to May 2022. March-May 2022 recovered 24.58 percent from average price during the previous three months.