The relevance of Pakistan as an
apparel sourcing hub is fast becoming evident when we look at the latest set of
import data published by the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and
Apparel (OTEXA), but despite the pandemic severely pressuring supply chains
reliant on China, the sourcing giant is holding firmly on to its title as top
clothing supplier to the US.
The
latest figures from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel
(OTEXA) show the volume of US apparel imports from all sources jumped by 13.4%
month-on-month in August to 2,841 million square metres (MM2) from 2,506 MM2 in
July.
Compared to the same month last year, the US saw a 17%
spike in apparel shipment volumes.
In value terms, imports were up 23% to US$8.1bn on
the prior-year period. It is, however, difficult to draw comparisons on a
year-on-year basis due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and factory
closures worldwide which skewed last year’s results.
In terms of individual supplier
countries, nine of the top ten recorded year-on-year increases in apparel
import volumes during August:
Pakistan
booked the largest increase in shipments when compared to last year’s
volumes by 32.2% at 73 MM2
Vietnam,
the second-largest clothing supplier to the US saw an increase of 22.31%
year-on-year to 426 MM2.
Indonesia
saw the next largest rise of 22.3% to 99 MM2
India’s
shipments grew to 98 MM2, an increase of 19.8%.
Cambodia
booked an 18% rise in shipment volumes at 128 MM2.
China,
the largest supplier of clothing to the US currently saw shipment volumes
grow by 15.6% to 1,201 MM2, more than double the volume coming out of
neighbouring Vietnam.
Bangladesh,
the third-largest supplier to the US, saw shipments grow by 12.5% year-on-year
to 221 MM2.
El
Salvador booked an 8.5% increase in shipments to 51 MM2.
Mexico
saw an 8.3% increase to 71 MM2.
Honduras
was the only country in the top ten to see a shipment volume decline
during August by 8.3% to 75 MM2.
Combined, textile and apparel imports to the US during
August were up 34.8% in volume terms to 9,194 MM2, year-on-year. In value
terms, they were up 22% to $10.98bn.
Textiles alone were up 44.5% year-on-year to 6,353 MM2
and 19.9% in value terms to $2.9bn.
Year-to-date
Exploring the data through a wider lens, given the
skew experienced from the Covid-19 pandemic during 2020, which saw factories
across the globe shutdown as governments attempted to curb the virus spread,
textile and apparel imports have grown 47% to 59,059 MM2 for the January to
August period and in value terms have grown 28.14% to $71.4bn.
Apparel imports alone have risen 31.1% to 18,709 MM2
with El Salvador seeing the biggest increase at 59.8% to 428 MM2, followed by
Pakistan at 55% to 578 MM2. The third-largest shipment increase where apparel
is concerned has come from India at 43% to 827 MM2.
Of the top three largest suppliers of apparel to the
US, China saw a 35% increase in shipment volumes between January and August to
6,684 MM2, followed by Bangladesh with a 33% increase to 1,637 MM2 and Vietnam
at 22.7% to 3,023 MM2.