Since 2023, due to the pressure of global economic growth, contraction of trade activities, high inventory of brand merchants, and rising risks in the international trade environment, import demand in key markets of global textiles and clothing has shown a shrinking trend. Among them, the United States has seen a particularly significant decrease in global textile and clothing imports. According to data from the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Clothing, from January to October 2023, the United States imported $90.05 billion worth of textiles and clothing from around the world, a year-on-year decrease of 21.5%.
Affected by the weak demand for US textile and clothing imports, China, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh, as the main sources of US textile and clothing imports, have all shown sluggish export performance to the United States. China remains the largest source of textile and clothing imports for the United States. From January to October 2023, the United States imported a total of 21.59 billion US dollars of textile and clothing from China, a year-on-year decrease of 25.0%, accounting for 24.0% of the market share, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from the same period last year; Imported textiles and clothing from Vietnam amounted to 13.18 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 23.6%, accounting for 14.6%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year; Imported textiles and clothing from India amounted to 7.71 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 20.2%, accounting for 8.6%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
It is worth noting that from January to October 2023, the United States imported textiles and clothing from Bangladesh to 6.51 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 25.3%, with the largest decline accounting for 7.2%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The main reason is that since 2023, there has been a shortage of energy supply such as natural gas in Bangladesh, which has led to factories being unable to produce normally, resulting in widespread production cuts and shutdowns. In addition, due to inflation and other reasons, Bangladeshi clothing workers have demanded an increase in the minimum wage standard to improve their treatment, and have carried out a series of strikes and marches, which have also greatly affected clothing production capacity.
During the same period, the decrease in the amount of textile and clothing imports from Mexico and Italy by the United States was relatively narrow, with a year-on-year decrease of 5.3% and 2.4%, respectively. On the one hand, it is closely related to Mexico’s geographical advantages and policy advantages as a member of the North American Free Trade Area; On the other hand, in recent years, American fashion companies have also been continuously implementing diversified procurement sources to alleviate various supply chain risks and the escalating geopolitical tensions. According to the Industrial Economics Research Institute of the China Textile Industry Federation, from January to October 2023, the HHI index of clothing imports in the United States was 0.1013, significantly lower than the same period last year, indicating that the sources of clothing imports in the United States are becoming more diversified.
Overall, although the decline in global import demand from the United States is still relatively deep, it has slightly narrowed compared to the previous period. According to data from the US Department of Commerce, affected by November Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping festival, the retail sales of clothing and apparel in the US reached $26.12 billion in November, an increase of 0.6% month on month and 1.3% year-on-year, indicating some signs of improvement. If the US clothing retail market can maintain its current sustained recovery trend, the decline in global textile and clothing imports from the US will further narrow by 2023, and the export pressure from various countries to the US may slightly ease.
Post time: Jan-29-2024