The marginal rise in the unit prices made the United States spend more on apparel imports during January to April 2018 period. Unit prices during the period were US $ 2.95 (up by 1.02%) as against US $ 2.92 last year.
The data was released by OTEXA and further analysed by Apparel Resources.
The USA imported 8,531 million square metres of apparel in the said period as against 8,408 million square metres of apparel in the correspondent period last year which were up by 1.46 per cent on the yearly note.
The country spent US $ 25.15 billion on the imported apparel in the review period which were slightly higher (2.43%) than the previous year.
Of all major exporting destinations, China and Indonesia fell in their respective apparel exports to the USA in value terms by 2.15 per cent and 1.89 per cent, respectively. However, Indonesia increased its value-wise share in the apparel market of the USA from 5.98 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 to 6.19 per cent in Jan.-Apr. 2018 period.
On the other hand, China lost a significant share in value terms. It came down from 30.17 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 to 28.94 per cent in the mentioned period. The loss in share is mainly due to China getting low prices for its apparel products and there is a slight decrease (0.59%) in shipment quantity too.
Markedly, apparel shipment from Vietnam to the US was worth US $ 3.77 billion posting 4.05 per cent surge on the yearly note. The growth percentage was the highest among top 5 apparel exporting destinations to the USA.
India, somehow, posted a solid growth (of 3.77%) in the said period after its apparel shipment went on negative side in Q1 ’17 by 0.80 per cent. India exported apparels to the USA worth US $ 1.43 billion in the review period adding another US $ 394 million in April from March month.
Bangladesh, despite dropping unit prices, remained positive in its apparel exports to the largest apparel importer in the world. Bangladesh’s apparel shipment value was US $ 1.79 billion as against US $ 1.74 billion in the same period a year before.
