Garment producers in Italy have shielded local markets in the past year. Apparel imports went up just 9.1 percent to 5,39,411 tons in terms of volume through October 2006, with Chinese imports dropping down 1.5 percent to 2,19,250 tons.
There was a 10.6 percent decline to 37,210 tons in imports from Romania through October 2006, but imports from Bangladesh reached 36,755 tons which was up 35.7 percent.
Indonesia has become the biggest exporter to country, with a massive 112.3 percent growth in imports to 11,967 tons for same period. Imports from Albania, Turkey, Tunisia, India and France also shot up.