US textile & apparel imports down 6.44% in 2016

The US textile and apparel imports from China were valued at $38.533 billion, accounting for 36.80 per cent share of all textile and garment imports made by the US in 2016, according to the Major Shippers Report, released by the US department of commerce.

Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia were the next four top suppliers of textiles and garments to the US, with goods valued at $11.323 billion, $7.222 billion, $5.492 billion and $4.904 billion, respectively, during the year, the report showed.

Segment-wise, among the top ten apparel suppliers to the US, only Vietnam was able to increase its exports by 2.31 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, imports from Cambodia declined by 13.63 per cent, whereas China and Indonesia saw their exports drop by 8.58 per cent and 4.68 per cent respectively, over the previous year.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, only Turkey registered a positive growth of 6.74 per cent year-on-year. While imports from Vietnam, China, Italy and Taiwan dropped by 29.03 per cent, 16.31 per cent, 12.86 per cent and 11.08 per cent to $515.36 million, $10.611 billion, $516.871 million and $466.577 million, respectively.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $104.722 billion in 2016, cotton products were worth $46.394 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $52.154 billion, followed by $4.410 billion of wool products and $1.763 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

In 2015, the US textile and apparel imports had increased by 4.15 per cent year-on-year to $111.928 billion, with apparel alone accounting for $85.164 billion. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India