In the first month of 2009, Thailand spent US $86.5 million in importing fabric for domestic textile and garment production, a decline of 9.14 percent in comparison with same period last year, an official source of Thailand Textile Institute said.
Because of the slowdown in production, imports of fabric witnessed a drop from all countries which supplied fabric to Thailand, including its largest supplier ASEAN, down by 6.74 percent to $24.9 million in January 2009.
Imports from EU fell by 33.33 percent to $9.2 million; from China was down by 18.88 percent, worth $4 million; from the US down by 26.09 percent totaling to $3.4 million and Japan down by 34 percent to $2.6 million.
From amongst ASEAN countries, Vietnam remained the biggest supplier of fabric in reaching $5.96 million, up 25.21 percent followed by Laos with $4.6 million, down 29.45 percent, Myanmar $3.31 million and Indonesia $3.13 million, up 14.23 percent.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - Vietnam