US textiles & apparel imports up 28.55% in January-August 2022

The import of textiles and apparel by the US continues to grow at high rate and it rose by 28.55% to $91.733 billion in the first eight months of 2022, compared to $71.361 billion in the same period of 2021. With 24.75% share China continues to be the largest supplier of textiles and clothing to the US, followed by Vietnam with 13.99%.

Apparel constituted the bulk of textiles and garments imported by the US in January-August 2022, and were valued at $69.274 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for $22.458 billion, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the US department of commerce.

Segment-wise, among the top ten apparel suppliers to the US, imports from India and Indonesia shot up by 56.90% and 56.47% year-on-year respectively. Imports from Bangladesh and Cambodia too grew by 53.54% and 51.64% respectively. Additionally, imports from Pakistan, which is among the top 10 suppliers, registered a growth of 42.16% compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, imports from Cambodia soared by 66.78% year-on-year. Imports from Vietnam and Italy climbed 27.56% and 22.04% respectively. On the other hand, imports from Turkey dipped by 9.23%.

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $91.733 billion during the period under review, man-made fibre products accounted for $46.868 billion, while cotton products were worth $40.048 billion, followed by $2.738 billion of wool products, and $2.077 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.

In 2020, the US textile and apparel imports had decreased sharply, mainly on account of the COVID-19 pandemic induced disruption, to $89.596 billion compared to imports of $111.033 billion in 2019. But imports rebounded again in 2021 to surpass the pre-pandemic level and ended at $113.938 billion.