Indian suppliers, an option for the Colombian textile businessmen
La república , June 25 2008
The potential of the national textile industry, that acording to Analdex it accounts for 10% of the production and generates about 200 thousand directs jobs 600 thousand non direct jobs, motivated Indian businessmen to visit Colombia to establish business contacts and set business with Colombian industries.
The contacts were possible due to a buyer-seller meet organized by the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of India in Colombia, which worked together in order to facilitate alliances between industries from the two countries. The local businessmen considered that India is a market that offers diverse option for supplying yarns and fabrics, while the Asian counterparts expressed that Colombia is a potential market to expand operations.
According to Alba Salomín, marketing manager from Indico, a trade agent, the event was important because the foreign companies offered a variety of options. "It is interesting because it is known that India has better quality materials than China and it is an important opportunity to make business".
On the other side, Edgar López from Gorras y Confecciones Juan López says that cost reduction is high. "I found lower prices -about 30%- compared to national manufacturers. I came looking for yarns for elaborating fabrics and I found out that they sell the same fabrics we do with better quality and cost".
The Indian entrepreneurs see Colombia as a potencial market that would open the doors to expand in the region.
Looking for partners
V. Ramachandran, Sales Manager from Sundaram Textiles Ltd stated that " latin America is a big market, I've already been to Peru, Brazil and Venezuela and I think Colombia is one of the countries with the greatest potential. Our company wants to find new partners that allow us to show our products and demonstrate that we can be competitive, and we can do that from Colombia".
Rajnish Tewari from Ginni Filaments agreed with Ramachandran by saying that Colombia is a recognized industry and has great possibilities of importing raw materials from India. "We want to be one of those possibilities so the industries can have variety and quality of what we do".
However, not only the Colombian businessmen were interested in doing business with India. Graciela Llanda, a representative from a Peruvian textile company, came all the way down from Lima to establish commercial relations. "We have already set up some business for fabrics and yarns, because prices are about 40 % lower compared with the costs we have been working with" said Llanda.
Results
The businessmen from both countries made business worth US $ 2.5 million. The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce will host in September a multi-sector business event with several countries.
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