The shift of production units outside of China, where production used to be concentrated, and a rise in import from emerging Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh is the main reason for the drop in import of apparel and accessories.

The Japanese exports have also decreased by 12.3 per cent in the previous year to $142.7 billion in all product categories.

Japan's trade deficit decreased by 2.7 per cent from the same period of 2014, and fell down to $17.9 billion. This is the fourth consecutive year in which a deficit has been recorded for Japan since 2012.

According to JETRO, the import of apparel and accessories from China is likely to decrease in 2016 too, due to further transfer of production to other countries with lower wages to avoid rising labour costs in China. (HO)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India