The current pandemic situation of COVID-19 is still severe. The United States has become a severely affected area, and global economic activities have been greatly affected. The latest data show that the import volume of U.S. textile and apparel in March was 4.19 billion square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 12.6%; of which, the volume from China was 940 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 38.7%.

In March, U.S. textile and apparel imports were USD 6.88 billion, down 14.6% year-on-year; the amount from China was USD 920 million, down 49.6% year-on-year. In the first quarter, the cumulative import value of textile and apparel was USD 23.63 billion, down 11.8% year-on-year; the amount from China was USD 5.1 billion, down 39% year-on-year. From the perspective of share, the volume and value of textile and apparel imported from China by the United States in March both declined significantly.

 

Under the influence of the Sino-US trade war and pandemic situation, China’s textile and apparel market share in the United States has gradually declined, especially in the first quarter of this year. while the share of ASEAN, India and Bangladesh gradually increased, especially the share of ASEAN rose to 19% in March, and that of China fell to 22.4%.

 

There is a certain lag in import data. The overseas pandemic situation in March and April continues to spread. Therefore, the US textile and apparel consumption is bound to be greatly impacted, and the import volume will also decline; while the factory operations in ASEAN, Bangladesh and India are limited, so it is expected that the import volume of American textile and clothing will still decline significantly in April, or even more than March.

(Source: China Cotton Textile Association)