The US has noted a surge of 1.13 per cent in its apparel imports during January to November 2017 period, as per the latest data released by OTEXA. The country imported 25,200 mn SME of apparels in the review period as against 24,918.59 mn SME of apparel imports in the corresponding period of 2016.Further, the US reported a fall of 0.29 per cent in value terms during the reporting period. It imported apparels worth $74.72 bn in the said 11 months of 2017, whereas the value of the imported apparels in the same period of 2016 was $74.94 bn. In volume-wise cotton and wools apparels import, the US noted a drop of 2.4 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, MMF apparels and silk & veg apparels imports recorded a growth of 4.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. China’s continued to be the apparel powerhouse to the US. As per the data, China noted a surge in volume of exports by 2.08 per cent; however, it failed to impress in value-terms that did not see any positive turnaround even in the 11 months of 2017 and fell by 3.09 per cent on the Y-o-Y basis.
During the same period, Vietnam touched $10.74 bn figures (up by 7.42 per cent) from its apparel exports to the US. India too witnessed an escalation of 2.19 per cent in its apparel exports (value) to the country. However, Bangladesh disappointed big time as it declined in value-wise apparel exports to the US by 4.30 per cent. The country noted a marginal surge of 0.05 per cent in the volume of apparel exports.