US textiles & apparel imports up 4.61% in Jan-June 2019

Apparel constituted the bulk of the textiles and garments imports made by the US during the initial six months of this year, and was valued at $40.04 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for the remaining $5.575 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 Bangladesh showed double-digit growth of 14.49 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, imports from Mexico registered a decline of 3.49 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, imports from Vietnam, Korea, Pakistan and Turkey shot up by 20.67 per cent, 18.26 per cent, 5.53 per cent, and 4.48 per cent year-on-year to $447.031 million, $407.379 million, $799.365 million, and $570.640 million respectively. On the other hand, imports from Canada were down by 15.75 per cent to $312.184 million.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $53.537 billion during the period under review, cotton products were worth $23.612 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $27.129 billion, followed by $1.545 billion of wool products and $1.249 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

In 2018, the US textile and apparel imports had increased by 4.9 per cent year-on-year to $111.039 billion, with apparel alone accounting for $82.864 billion. (PC)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India