Among the top ten markets, textile and apparel shipments from the US to Guatemala rose by 20.52 per cent to $64.272 million, and to China increased by 26.78 per cent to $125.635 million in January-February 2024. Exports to Nicaragua and Mexico also grew by 1.49 per cent and 3.83 per cent, respectively.
In contrast, shipments to the Dominican Republic, Canada, Honduras, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Japan declined by up to 30.33 per cent. During the period under review, the US supplied textiles and apparel worth $1,159.691 million to Mexico, followed by $815.747 million to Canada, and $198.560 million to Honduras.
Category-wise, apparel exports saw a marginal decrease of 5.10 per cent year-on-year to $1,109.597 million. Fabric exports fell by 4.52 per cent to $1,304.792 million in the first two months of this year. Exports of yarn also saw reductions, decreasing by 1.14 per cent to $677.683 million. However, the shipment of made-up articles and miscellaneous items increased by 0.85 per cent to $599.161 million.
In 2023, the exports of textiles and apparel from the US had decreased by 5.02 per cent to $23.617 billion. The outbound shipment of these items had seen an increase of 9.77 per cent to $24.866 billion in 2022, compared to $22.652 billion in 2021. In recent years, these exports have consistently ranged between $22 billion and $25 billion annually. Specifically, the export value was $24.418 billion in 2014, $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, $22.905 billion in 2019, and $19.330 billion in 2020.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)