US textile & apparel imports grow 3.2% in Q1
Source: Fibre2fashion Date: 2014-05-20
The United States imported textiles and apparel worth US$ 24.84 billion in the first three months of 2014, registering an increase of 3.2 percent over imports of $24.069 billion made in the corresponding quarter of last year, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The US imported $8.799 billion worth of textiles and garments from China, which accounted for 39.54 percent share of all textile and garment imports made by the US in January-March 2014, the data showed.
Vietnam, India and Indonesia were among the other largest suppliers of textiles and garments to the US, with exports valued at $2.34 billion, $1.733 billion and $1.387 billion, respectively, during the three-month period.
Segment-wise, the US apparel imports during the quarter were worth $18.977 billion, whereas non-apparel imports contributed $5.863 billion.
In the apparel category, Vietnam and Sri Lanka stood out among the top ten suppliers to the US as their exports increased by 16.62 percent year-on-year and 14.75 percent year-on-year to $2.175 billion and $467.764 million, respectively, during the period under review.
While the import of man-made fibre (MMF) apparel increased by 8.25 percent year-on-year to $7.608 billion, and that of wool apparel by 11.52 percent year-on-year to $496.334 million, the import of cotton-made apparel declined slightly by 0.24 percent to $10.393 billion.
In the non-apparel category, among the top-ten suppliers, the import from Italy and Taiwan shot up by 11.64 percent year-on-year and 11.99 percent respectively to $140.303 million and $106.157 million. On the other hand, imports from Canada dropped by 12.59 percent to $189.519 million.
Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $24.84 billion during the quarter, cotton products accounted for $12.477 billion, while man-made fibre (MMF) products were worth $10.993 billion, followed by $754.605 million of wool products and $614.942 million of products from silk and vegetable fibres.
In 2013, the US textile and apparel imports increased by 3.76 percent year-on-year to $104.724 billion.
