Recently, the preliminary statistics released from the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel shows that textile and apparel imports of the United States continued to decline in January to June 2009.
Import volumes touched 19.57 billion square meters, down 10.7 percent year-on-year. China commanded an import share of 38.3 percent among textile and clothing imports, but imports from China fell 2 percent in the same period.
However, clothing imports from India rose 19.2 percent, representing the first growth in 4 months, mainly due to a 17.8 percent decrease in apparel prices. In contrast, U.S. imports of Chinese clothing only increased 7.7 percent year-on-year.