US textile & apparel imports up 4.49% in Jan-Sept 2018

Apparel constituted the bulk of the textiles and garments imports made by the US during the initial nine months of current year, and were valued at $62.489 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for the remaining $20.864 billion, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the US department of commerce.

Segment-wise, among the top ten apparel suppliers to the US, exports from Cambodia showed double-digit growth of 13.09 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, imports from Sri Lanka registered a decline of 9.60 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, imports from Vietnam, Turkey, Mexico, Italy and China shot up by 22.77 per cent, 17.20 per cent, 12.53 per cent, 12.32 per cent, and 11.84 per cent year-on-year to $565.844 million, $828.046 million, $963.246 million, $444.082 million, and $9.602 billion respectively.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $83.353 billion during the period under review, cotton products were worth $35.786 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $43.025 billion, followed by $3.115 billion of wool products and $1.426 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

In 2017, the US textile and apparel imports had increased by 1.25 per cent year-on-year to $105.968 billion, with apparel alone accounting for $80.269 billion. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India