Middle East apparel imports rise despite Israel-Palestine conflict

According to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro, the imports in the region was $1,788.949 million in the same quarter of the last year. Therefore, imports have risen by 3.41 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

Another dimension of trade data analysis shows that China was the largest apparel supplier for the Middle East region. The imports from China were valued at $543.529 million in January-March 2024. It was 29.39 per cent of the total imports of $1,849.526 million in the period. Among the top five suppliers, the imports from Bangladesh stood at $255.661 million (13.82%), Italy $132.485 million (7.16%), Turkiye $110.858 million (5.99%) and India $92.945 million (5.03%).

As per TexPro, the imports from China were valued at $533.060 million in the first quarter of the last year, which was 29.90 per cent of the total imports in the same period. The inbound shipment in the Middle East from Bangladesh was $218.982 million (12.24%), Turkiye $143.324 million (8.01%), Italy $119.730 million (6.69%) and India $103.350 million (5.78%).

During the last year, apparel imports in the Middle East were noted at $6,852.214 million. Its imports from the top supplier China accounted for 31.27 per cent, which amounted to $2,142.385 million. The share of other top suppliers was Bangladesh 11.90 per cent, Italy 7 per cent, Turkiye 6.24 per cent and Vietnam 4.57 per cent of the total imports.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)