The Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel reports that monthly imports of cotton, wool, manmade fiber, silk blend, and non-cotton vegetable fiber textile and apparel products totaled 3.54 billion square meter equivalents in May 2020, down 11.7 percent from April and 42.0 percent from May 2019. Textile imports totaled 2.59 billion SME, down 7.5 percent for the month and 32.2 percent from the previous year, while apparel imports of 950.5 million SME were down 21.4 percent from May and 58.3 percent from a year before.
For more information on trade-related issues affecting textiles and apparel, please contact Elise Shibles at (415) 490-1403.
Overall Imports. Total year-to-date imports were 22.2 billion SME, down 19.9 percent from the previous year, as textile imports fell 15.5 percent to 14.0 billion SME and apparel imports fell 26.5 percent to 8.2 billion SME.
For the year ending in May, imports were 64.2 billion SME, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier, as textile imports fell 5.6 percent to 39.4 billion SME and apparel imports fell 12.5 percent to 24.8 billion SME.
Source Countries. OTEXA has reported the following statistics on textile and apparel imports from major source countries for May 2020.
| |
SME |
Monthly change % |
Annual change % |
$ Value |
Monthly change % |
Annual change % |
| China |
1.76 billion |
+19.7 |
-38.0 |
$1.38 billion |
+16.0 |
-53.0 |
| Vietnam |
230.6 million |
-36.9 |
-53.0 |
$682.1 million |
-22.4 |
-41.0 |
| India |
166.8 million |
-61.8 |
-70.0 |
$160.4 million |
-66.9 |
-79.0 |
| Mexico |
158.8 million |
+12.7 |
-34.0 |
$160.6 million |
-26.0 |
-59.0 |
| Pakistan |
127.3 million |
-44.7 |
-49.0 |
$110.8 million |
-49.7 |
-58.0 |
| Korea |
114.2 million |
-27.5 |
-44.0 |
$52.7 million |
-20.9 |
-43.0 |
| Indonesia |
90.7 million |
-35.9 |
-31.0 |
$211.3 million |
-34.5 |
-45.0 |
| Turkey |
90.0 million |
+18.9 |
+15.4 |
$105.2 million |
-13.4 |
-32.0 |
| Bangladesh |
85.8 million |
-52.8 |
-60.0 |
$181.3 million |
-56.7 |
-67.0 |
| Cambodia |
71.6 million |
-25.3 |
-22.0 |
$163.5 million |
-66.6 |
-33.0 |
| Canada |
70.1 million |
+17.0 |
-14.0 |
$55.3 million |
+22.3 |
-49.0 |
| Germany |
58.4 million |
-9.5 |
-8.8 |
$35.5 million |
-15.1 |
-19.0 |
| Taiwan |
57.5 million |
-12.3 |
-31.0 |
$38.1 million |
-6.6 |
-37.0 |
Of particular note is the performance of imports from the CAFTA-DR countries, with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement, in May compared to a year earlier.
- Costa Rica: not listed
- Dominican Republic: 73 percent decline in volume, 81 percent decline in value
- El Salvador: 89 percent decline in volume, 91 percent decline in value
- Guatemala: 39 percent decline in volume, 43 percent decline in value
- Honduras: 84 percent decline in volume, 89 percent decline in value
- Nicaragua: 64 percent decline in volume, 55 percent decline in value
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