U.S. apparel imports continued to climb in September as retailers picked up business following pandemic lockdowns. However, unlike the previous year, shipments were on a downward trend.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel ( The latest data from OTEXA showed that U.S. apparel imports increased by 1.23% year-on-year in September, reaching 2.46 billion square meters. By comparison, volume last month was 2.43 billion square meters.
September data show that transaction volume fell by 4.65% compared with the same month last year, and the total value fell by 15% to US$6.64 billion. In terms of individual supplier countries, exports to the United States from six of the top ten countries increased year-on-year, with the largest one coming from Pakistan at 16.6%.
So far, China is still the largest supplier of textiles and clothing. Its shipments fell 10.9% to 1.04 billion square meters, making it the second largest. However, trading volume was basically the same as last month.
The largest decline was in Indonesia, where sales fell by 22.7% to 72 million square meters. Shipments to Honduras fell 12.7% to 78 million square meters, and El Salvador dropped 4.5% to 59 million square meters.
At the same time, shipments to Cambodia and Bangladesh increased by 8.6% and 2.8% respectively, reaching 137 million square meters and 161 million square meters. In Vietnam, its shipments increased 4.8% to 362 million square meters. Production increased in Mexico and India, up 1.3% and 0.9% respectively, reaching 60 million square meters and 79 million square meters.
In addition to the top ten textile and apparel suppliers in the United States, Turkey and India ranked first, with increases of 36% and 19% respectively, and China increased by 10.4%.
Although monthly trade data tends to be volatile, ranging significantly from one month to the next Fluctuations, but from January to now, from a broader perspective, total U.S. apparel and textile imports fell 24.5% to $64.79 billion from $85.79 billion before last year.
In the nine months from January to September this year, clothing imports fell by 27.7% to US$47.03 billion, while textile imports fell by 14.3% to US$17.76 billion.
Only Cambodia’s apparel shipments increased by 3.8% to 824 million square meters. El Salvador and Honduras experienced the largest declines, 42.6% to 327 million square meters and 35.9% to 480 million square meters respectively. Transaction volumes in China fell 32% to 5.99 billion square meters.
At present, “China + Vietnam” is still the most popular purchasing model, but the proportion has changed. In 2020, about 29% of purchasers said that their purchasing volume from Vietnam was higher than that from China. In 2019, about is 25%.
Due to the complex trade relationship between China and the United States, the United States purchases less from China, and they mainly shift orders to other countries. Vietnam and Bangladesh, as major apparel suppliers to the U.S. market, are expected to play a more important role.
At the same time, Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, with GDP growth and export growth. The country has an aggressive program to change its position in textile and clothing exports, which is expected to grow significantly by 2021. </p
