DHAKA: Apparel imports into the US took a tumble in June, even though more than half of the top ten supplier countries booked growth. Bangladesh led the field with a near 5% increase, with Vietnam booking similar growth.
The latest figures from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) show the volume of US apparel imports from all sources fell 1.3% year-on-year in June – reversing an increase of 2.2% seen in May. Imports during the month slipped to 2.30bn square metre equivalents (SME), from 2.33bn SME in the prior year. In value terms, imports were down 6.1% year-on-year to $6.87bn in June.
In terms of individual supplier countries, six of the top-ten recorded growth. However, shipments from China – the largest supplier of apparel to the US – were down 4.3% to 953m SME. The second-largest supplier, Vietnam, saw slower growth than May’s 8.5%, but even so booked an increase of 4.5% to 281m SME. While Bangladesh, ranked number three in the top-ten league table, managed an increase of 4.6% to 169m SME.
India recorded growth of 2.1% to 86m SME, while Honduras saw growth of 1.8% to 102m SME. The smallest growth was recorded by Mexico and El Salvador of 0.5% to 81m SME, and 0.4% to 76m SME, respectively.
Of the remaining supplier countries, Cambodia recorded the largest decline, dropping 19.1% year-on-year to 66m SME, followed by Indonesia with a fall of 7.1% to 98m SME, and Pakistan with a decline of 6% to 48m SME. Meanwhile, total US apparel and textile imports were down 1.1% in June, dropping to 5.54bn SME from 5.60bn SME in the same period a year ago, with textiles down 0.9% to 3.23bn SME.
