The European Union fell 1.11 per cent in its RMG import value in January 2020. EU imported €8.14 billion worth of garments in the first month of the year as against €8.23 billion worth of garments in the same month of 2019.
Fall of 3.55 per cent is also recorded in volumes which indicate overall consumption was down.
Chinese apparel shipment to EU fell 4.29 per cent in January ’20 and clocked €2.53 billion revenue. The shipment value is lesser than last year majorly because of two reasons – Chinese New Year Holidays that fall in January and COVID-19 outbreak which closed Chinese industries from January onwards.
Bangladesh, the 2nd largest exporter of apparels to EU, neither fell nor grew in its exports and noted €1.63 billion revenue, which is exactly same as previous year’s January month.
Turkey’s growth remained decent as it grew 2.21 per cent value-wise to ship €963.28 million worth of apparels to EU; while Vietnam plunged significantly by 2.08 per cent to earn €340.93 million from its RMG shipment to EU.
India’s negative show continues as it fell 3.18 per cent in value-terms only to ship €457 million worth of apparels to EU.
The most surprising performance was of Pakistan which decently surged by 9.36 per cent and shipped apparels to EU worth €311.70 million.
At a time when every major apparel destination has either dropped in exports or seen sluggish growth, the escalation of Pakistan brings more prospects for future, only if COVID-19 outbreak allows countries to trade usually.
