Total US imports rose 10.5% in December compared to the same month last year to $186.2 billion. From November to December there was strong demand for imported industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, automobiles and parts, and consumer products. Imports of foods, and beverages declined compared to last month. Total exports rose by 8.7% to record levels. Exports of industrial supplies, machinery, cars, foods and beverages were offset by declines in consumer product exports vs. last … [Read more...]

Apparel imports increased 8% on a dollar basis in 2011, while units (square meter equivalents) declined by 3.6%, according to data released by The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). Imports from Cambodia grew the fastest in both dollars and units. Bangladesh and Vietnam each gained the most share - up .3 percentage points during the year.   China lost the most share of U.S. year-to-date dollar apparel imports in 2011, off 1.3 percentage points compared to a year ago. Mexico, El … [Read more...]

Total US imports rose 12.9% to $193.2 billion, driven by strong demand for imported industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, automobiles and parts. Imports of consumer products, foods, and beverages declined compared to last month. Soft goods exports had low double-digit increases, but still lagged total exports, which rose by 12% to record levels. Exports of industrial supplies, machinery, cars and consumer products increased  vs. last month. Apparel imports were virtually … [Read more...]

China lost the most share of US year-to-date dollar textile imports as of November, off .45 percentage points compared to a year ago, according to data released by The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). Mexico and Canada were next, each down .1 percentage points.  India and Vietnam have gained the biggest shares so far this year, at .7 and .4 percentage points, respectively. Vietnam has also enjoyed the biggest increase in textile square meter equivalent unit volume to the U.S. so … [Read more...]

China lost the most share of U.S. year-to-date dollar apparel imports as of November, off 1.5 percentage points compared to a year ago, according to data released by The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). Mexico and India were next, each down .1 percentage points.  Bangladesh and Indonesia have gained .4 and .3 percentage points so far this year. The dollar value per unit (SME) of imported apparel from Indonesia has increased almost 20% year-to-date.   On a unit basis, Vietnam … [Read more...]

China lost the most share of US year-to-date apparel imports in October, off 1.6 percentage points compared to a year ago. Mexico lost the next largest amount, down a half a point. Vietnam and Bangladesh each gained .4 percentage points. Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan enjoyed the biggest value increases in their U.S. apparel trade on a year-to-date basis compared to last year. The biggest increase in unit volume was from Cambodia.      Apparel … [Read more...]

Trade in apparel and textile continued to retrench a bit in October.  Exports remained fairly strong relative to imports, despite decreasing a bit from September. Total US imports rose 13% to $194.2 billion, driven by strong demand for imported industrial supplies, capital goods, consumer products, foods, beverages, automobiles and parts. Soft goods exports had low double-digit increases in September, but still lagged total exports, which rose by 12% to record levels. Exports of … [Read more...]

India and Vietnam each gained over a half percentage point of share of US textile imports in September compared to a year ago. China lost the most share among top ten trading partner countries.  India, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoyed the biggest value increases in their U.S. textile trade on a year-to-date basis compared to last year. Unit volume increased from Vietnam, but declined from Pakistan and Indonesia. Textile Imports: YTD 9/2011     MM Dollars and … [Read more...]

After a nice spike in August that pushed textile and apparel imports and exports to their highest one-month levels so far this year, things settled down a bit in September, particularly for imports. Exports remained fairly strong, despite decreasing a bit from August. Total US imports rose almost 14% to $191.8 billion, driven by strong demand for imported industrial supplies, capital goods, consumer products, foods, beverages, automobiles and parts. Soft goods exports had low … [Read more...]

Compared to this time last year, China's share of US apparel imports is 1.5 percentage points lower on a dollar basis and 1.7 points off in units. This is consistent with reports of apparel manufacturers and retailers moving production from China to lower-cost countries. Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia have seen their shares increase, while Mexico has lost share on a dollar (but not unit) basis, and other top ten trading country shares remain flat to down. Five countries - Bangladesh, … [Read more...]