In an industry capacity building programme conducted by the Textiles Committee and QTEC (Japan Textiles Products Quality and Technology Centre), Joint Director of Textiles Committee K.S. Muralidhara emphasized on textiles exporters who are focusing on the western market to explore opportunities in Japan

Mr. Muralidhara said that when the Indian Prime Minister visited Japan last November, Textiles Committee and QTEC signed an agreement to sensitise the industry here on quality and regulatory requirements of the Japanese market and their standards. The capacity building programmes are conducted as part of the agreement in nine cities, including Coimbatore. It will conclude in Mumbai next week.

Mr. Muralidhara, added that the potential for exports to Japan is huge. Of the total textile and clothing exports from India, just about 2% goes to Japan. Of the total textile and clothing imports by Japan, only 1% is from India. The major supplier to Japan is China and Japan is now looking at suppliers from other countries too.

But, the Japanese buyers want the products to be tested at QTEC laboratories as their quality requirements are high and some of the standards are different from those accepted in the western markets. The Textiles Committee has 19 laboratories in the country with equipment to test standards for exports to the western markets mainly. They will look at upgrading the laboratories jointly with QTEC or QTEC can set up its laboratories in the facilities that we have.

This will be a follow up to the capacity building programmes.