Apparel Imports Continue Slide but Textiles Remain Strong

Imports of textiles and apparel rose again in March and saw strong growth from a year earlier, according to statistics from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel.

For more information on trade-related issues affecting textiles and apparel, please contact ST&R’s textile and apparel practice leader Elise Shibles at (415) 490-1403 or via email. 

Overall Imports. Textile and apparel imports totaled 7.63 billion square meter equivalents in March, up 2.6 percent from February and 7.68 percent from a year earlier. Textile imports totaled 5.76 billion SME, up 6.9 percent for the month and 10.0 percent from the previous year, while apparel imports of 1.87 billion SME were down 8.3 percent from February but up 0.9 percent from a year before.

Imports of textiles and apparel were 21.8 billion SME for the year to date in March, up 10.9 percent from the previous year. Textile imports were 15.9 billion SME, up 14.8 percent, while apparel imports totaled 5.90 billion SME, up 1.5 percent.

For the year ending in March 2024, total imports were down 4.6 percent compared to a year earlier, to 94.7 billion SME. Textile imports fell 0.7 percent to 70.3 billion SME while apparel imports plunged 14.4 percent to 24.4 billion SME.

Source Countries. OTEXA has reported the following statistics on textile and apparel imports from major source countries for March 2024.

Country	SME	Monthly change %	Annual change %	YE change %
China	1.97 billion	-17.2	+19.8	-1.6
India	957.1 million	+15.8	+51.3	-1.2
Egypt	836.9 million	+273.0	+11.4	+48.9
Turkey	742.5 million	+20.8	+98.5	-22.5
Vietnam	516.5 million	+0.5	+22.2	-12.3
Pakistan	290.2 million	+19.7	+15.8	-6.7
Malaysia	285.4 million	-46.4	+2.2	+29.6
Bangladesh	226.6 million	-11.2	-9.6	-26.4
Mexico	200.7 million	+9.4	-64.3	+23.5
Czech Rep.	185.0 million	-54.0	+36.5	+93.2

 

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