Top 5 EU destinations – Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands and Italy – all fell down in their respective RMG imports from India during 2020. It’s worth mentioning here that these 5 markets accommodated 73.48 per cent of India’s total export to EU – with UK excluded.

While the EU-India FTA talks will aim at increasing India’s apparel exports to these 5 traditional and top markets, the other two emerging destinations – Denmark and Hungary – can’t be overlooked.

Denmark was the 6th top apparel export destination in EU for India during 2020 with an export value hovering around US $ 231.95 million. That’s 3.29 per cent yearly growth!

Though the growth in the shipment to Denmark looks miniscule, the fact can’t be denied the growth was noted in COVID-19 hit period. On the other hand, Bangladesh declined by 0.51 per cent in its apparel export to Denmark in 2020.

The growth of India in the Denmark market seems to be not just one-off instance as the future projections for these emerging retail markets are all positive.

The revenue in the Denmark apparel market is projected to be US $ 4.58 billion in 2021 and the same is expected to grow annually by 4.02 per cent (CAGR 2021-2026). Hence, tapping this growing market in the early stage will set the future platform for the Indian factories.

Another rising market is Hungary that imported US $ 21.16 million worth of apparels from India in 2020, as compared to just US $ 2.79 million in 2019, marking 658.42 per cent yearly growth in a pandemic-ravaged year.

Notably, Hungary imported US $ 1.56 billion worth of garments from worldwide in 2020, as says ITC data, and India’s share to this value remained just 1.35 per cent and that’s where the key lies.

Since India’s garment export to this small yet potential European destination seems to be weaving up strongly, the country has a great chance in 2021 and onwards to increase its market share in Hungary. As per Statista, the total revenue in apparel segment in Hungary was US $ 2.07 billion in 2020 and the same is expected to grow annually by 16.2 per cent from 2021 till 2025.

The chances of India’s growth in Denmark and Hungary are high because of the fact that both these countries are known to source high fashion garments in small quantities, something which India already has an upper hand in, as compared to its Asian counterparts.

Source: Apparel Resources