US textile & apparel imports fall 5.53% in Jan-August

The US imported $25.675 billion worth of textiles and garments from China, which accounted for 37.49 per cent share of all textile and garment imports made by the US in January-August 2016, the data showed.

Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia were the next four top suppliers of textiles and garments to the US, with goods valued at $7.661 billion, $5.009 billion, $3.856 billion and $3.402 billion, respectively, during the eight-month period.

Segment-wise, the US apparel imports during January-August 2016 were valued at $54.067 billion, whereas non-apparel imports accounted for $16.544 billion.

Among the top ten apparel suppliers to the US, exports from Vietnam increased at 3.04 per cent year-on-year, while those from El Salvador rose at 2.28 per cent. On the other hand, imports from Cambodia declined by 14.76 per cent, whereas both China and Mexico saw their exports drop by 7.73 per cent over the corresponding period of 2015.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, the import from Turkey shot up by 6.07 per cent year-on-year to $556.520 million. While imports from Vietnam, China and Taiwan dropped by 19.68 per cent, 14.77 per cent and 13.23 per cent to $406.589 million, $7.386 billion and $306.601 million, respectively.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $70.612 billion during January-August 2016, cotton products were worth $31.322 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $35.106 billion, followed by $2.803 billion of wool products and $1.380 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

In 2015, the US textile and apparel imports 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