WASHINGTON — China’s apparel and textile imports rebounded from embargoes last year, shooting up in October by 22.3 percent to 1.8 billion-square-meter equivalents, valued at $3 billion.
Taken separately, apparel managed a 55.6 percent jump, while textiles were up 7 percent. Last summer, some types of goods came under embargo, meaning shipments were not allowed into the U.S. market for the balance of the year due to quota restrictions.
But it’s not an anomaly that makes China’s growth dramatic; The country has a large, relatively low-cost labor force, ready access to raw materials and a government interested in driving exports. Shipments would likely have been higher, but 34 types of goods are under a regimen of quotas that was laid out in November 2005 and lasts through the end of 2008.
Apparel and textile imports in October contributed to the broader trade deficit in goods with China, which widened by 6.1 percent to $24.4 billion compared with the preceding month.
With a deficit of $190.6 billion in goods and services through October this year, the U.S. is on track to overtake its record-high deficit of $202 billion last year. Pushed down by lower oil prices, the total U.S. trade deficit in goods and services fell 8.4 percent in October to $58.9 billion, its lowest level since August 2005.
“The big improvement in the trade deficit in October was mostly due to lower prices and lower volumes for imported oil,” said Global Insight chief U.S. economist Nigel Gault. “But the non-oil deficit narrowed as well, and we believe it is on an improving trend helped by robust export growth and by slower import growth, as the U.S. economy cools.”
Taking China out of the equation, apparel and textile imports slid 3.4 percent, but that doesn’t mean the country was the only winner of the import game. Bangladesh also has been picking up share and was the only other country to grow by more than 20 million SME in October.
Bangladesh, the eighth-largest apparel and textile importer to the U.S. in October, is working off a much smaller base but still boosted shipments by 19.5 percent to 140 million SME. The South Asian country saw growth in imports of cotton trousers, men’s and boys’ cotton woven shirts and cotton underwear, all categories where China is under quota restrictions.
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Some of the countries that are part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement saw increased business in October, though the benefits of the pact have not yet fully taken effect.
All together the group of six countries saw an apparel and textile imports to the U.S. rise 4.4 percent in October, with increases in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica partially offset by declines in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
For the first 10 months of the year, however, apparel and textile imports from the six CAFTA countries were down 9.8 percent. But the pact has not yet been implemented in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
Other key countries losing ground in October were Canada, down 18.3 percent; Hong Kong, dropping 38 percent, and Mexico, falling 9.6 percent.