Declining unit prices cause sharp fall in RMG import values of Japan in Jan.-Oct. ’20

Japan’s apparel import values have plunged by 16.80 per cent in Jan.-Oct. ’20 period, according to the latest data.

The country imported 2,151.41 billion yen (US $ 20.81 billion) worth of apparels in the period as against 2,585.74 billion yen (US $ 25 billion) in the same period of 2019.

Particularly in October ’20, Japan fell both on Y-o-Y basis and M-o-M basis by 20 per cent and 11 per cent.

Japan’s import valued 238.74 billion yen (US $ 2.31 billion) in October ’20 as compared to 266.25 billion yen (US $ 2.53 billion) in September ’20 and 298.60 billion yen (US $ 2.89 billion) in October ’19.

In terms of weight, Japanese apparel import declined by 8 per cent in October ’20 over September ’20 and 15.94 per cent as compared to October ’19.

The fall in October is not a good sign after picking up in September. This fluctuation in the Japanese import pattern has been prevailing since the markets opened in mid-May, which is one of the causes to derail the expectations of the exporters shipping garments to this country.

As far as unit prices are concerned in the cumulative period in 2020, there has been a sharp decline of 5.31 per cent on Y-o-Y basis. The unit prices of imported garments reduced to 443 yen (US $ 4.28) per kg in Jan.-Oct. ’20 from 467.87 yen (US $ 4.52) per kg in the same period of 2019.