WASHINGTON — Bangladesh posted the largest increase in apparel and textile imports to the U.S. in December and led the pack of top 10 apparel and textile imports for the fourth month in a row, the Commerce Department’s monthly trade report showed Friday.
Mexico, on the other hand, posted the largest decline in apparel and textile imports to the U.S.
Bangladesh led year-over-year apparel and textile import increases among the top 10 suppliers in September, October, November and December. Combined imports in December from Bangladesh rose 18.2 percent to 160 million square meter equivalents in December, compared with a year earlier.
Apparel and textile imports from Bangladesh for all of 2015 rose 16.3 percent compared with 2014.
Related Articles
Overall apparel and textile imports to the U.S. from the world increased 0.8 percent to 4.7 billion SME in December from a year earlier. Apparel imports rose 5.4 percent to 2 billion SME, while textile imports fell 2.4 percent to 2.7 billion SME.
You May Also Like
The December and year-end import data from Bangladesh reflected a more stable environment in the Asian nation last year, according to industry officials.
“It’s so impressive to really look at what happened with Bangladesh in 2015,” said Julia Hughes, president at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association. “In 2014, there was a lot of uncertainty about what might be ahead but obviously Bangladesh has surged back. They are our fastest-growing major supplier in the top 10 for apparel. A lot of that is due to work and engagement by the Alliance and the Accord, both of which represent commitments by fashion brands and retailers to work with their counterparts in Bangladesh to update and modernize the supply chain.”
A garment factory in Bangladesh earlier this week underscored the urgent need for improvements as well as challenges associated with instituting safety reforms in the thousands of apparel factories there.
Bangladesh has been undergoing safety and labor reforms in the wake of two industrial tragedies that claimed the lives of more than 1,240 workers. Despite the turmoil, apparel imports from the country have been on the rise.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, are two consortia launched by the industry and labor groups in the aftermath of the tragedies, with the aim of inspecting thousands of factories and instituting safety reforms in Bangladesh.
“The work of the Accord, Alliance and other [initiatives] are critical to making sure we can prevent fires like this in the future,” said Nate Herman, vice president of international trade at the American Apparel & Footwear Association. “The initiatives in place are putting the country in the right direction. That is what everyone recognizes and why companies feel more comfortable there,” which is reflected in the most recent import data, Herman said. “As the fire demonstrates, we still have a way to go but everything is moving in the right direction.”
Mexico was the biggest loser among top 10 suppliers for the month and year. It posted a 13.8 percent decline in apparel and textile imports to the U.S. to 166 million SME in December, compared with a year earlier. The country also posted the only drop for all of 2015 among top 10 suppliers.
Hughes said cotton hosiery imports from Mexico were down 44 percent for the year, while imports of women’s knit tops fell 34 percent. Other categories with significant declines included wool apparel and cotton apparel.
China, the largest apparel and textile supplier to the U.S., posted a 0.07 percent gain in imports to 2.2 billion SME in December, compared with a year ago. For the year, combined imports from China rose 8 percent.
“China is not keeping up with overall import growth,” Herman said. “It is slowly losing market share because people are recognizing you have to have a China plus one or two strategy. It’s not just rising wages. It is becoming more difficult to find workers and have stability with workers, which is making it more difficult to operate.”
Still, China maintains the lion’s share of the U.S. apparel and textile import market and is expected to maintain it for years to come.
Herman pointed out that four African countries posted significant increases in apparel imports to the U.S. for the month, though the increases are from a small base.
Apparel imports from Madagascar grew 56 percent in December, while imports from Ethiopia rose 49 percent and imports from Lesotho increased 36.6 percent. Imports from Kenya, the largest apparel supplier, rose 18.5 percent for the month.
Herman said the increases were due in large part to a 10-year extension of the African Growth & Opportunity Act by Congress last year, which gives duty-free benefits to several developing sub-Saharan African nations.
“We haven’t seen that kind of growth before and we believe the renewal of AGOA last summer [propelled] companies to go back in. People are not just saying they are going in, they are doing it,” Herman said.