Apparel constituted the bulk of the textiles and garments imports made by the US in H1 2018, and were valued at $38.049 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for the remaining $13.438 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 14.23 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, imports from Sri Lanka and Mexico registered a decline of 9.53 per cent and 3.20 per cent respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, imports from Vietnam, Turkey, Italy, China and Mexico shot up by 31.77 per cent, 23.29 per cent, 16.77 per cent, 13.54 per cent, and 12.51 per cent year-on-year to $372.137 million, $548.095 million, $302.524 million, $6.006 billion, and $632.615 million respectively. However, imports from India fell by 2.00 per cent.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $51.488 billion during the period under review, cotton products were worth $22.768 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $26.094 billion, followed by $1.523 billion of wool products and $1.101 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