The U.S. apparel imports plunged 32.00 per cent to USD 6 billion in value terms in July 2020 compared to a year earlier, according to figures released by the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA). Companies have imported 30.68 per cent less apparel in the first seven months of 2020 and valued at USD 33.88 billion compared to USD 48.87 billion for the same period in 2019. The greatest impact has been on China, which posted a 49.34 per cent year-to-date decline through July 2020 to retain its position as the top supplier with USD 7.35 billion worth of goods imported.

In July 2020, 50.00 per cent less apparel, or USD 1.58 billion worth, was imported to the U.S. from China compared to a year earlier. Apparel imports from Vietnam declined 11.06 per cent for the 7-month period to USD 6.94 billion and were down 11.00 per cent in July 2020 compared to a year earlier to USD 1.29 billion. However, Vietnam did post a 2.90 per cent volume increase to 393.29 million square meter equivalents (SME).  

 

Bangladesh stood at 3rd place and didn’t fare much better, with year-to-date imports down 18.54 per cent to USD 2.91 billion and year over year shipments off 11.00 per cent to USD 436.34 million. For the year through July, imports from Cambodia rose 6.13 per cent to USD 1.54 billion and were up 19.20 per cent in the month compared to same month in previous year to USD 292.67 million.