According to the latest OTEXA data, the first half of 2021 saw yearly growth in US apparel import data – both in terms of values and volumes…
On the one hand, import values are still lower than pre-COVID level – H1 ’19, yet volumes are practically identical to what the United States sourced over the same period.
In the first half of this year, the world’s largest garment importer brought in US$ 35.38 billion, increasing 26.92 percent from the same period last year.
The values were down 11.63 percent on a year-over-year basis, with imports valued at US $ 40.04 billion in H1 ’19, compared to 13,365.48 million SME in H1 ’21, a 38.39 percent Y-o-Y increase and a marginal 0.23 percent decline compared to H1 ’19.
The two-year comparison and the slight decrease in volume-wise imports indicate that US purchasers are still importing garments in large numbers from all over the world. The fall in values, on the other hand, indicates that unit prices are tightening – particularly for basic goods, which will boost competitiveness in the coming months. In June of this year, the United States imported US $ 6.16 billion worth of clothes, up 55.50 percent on a year-over-year basis – the highest level since March of this year, when it sourced US $ 6.49 billion worth of textile products.
In terms of volume, US purchasers imported 2,323.33 million SME of clothes, a 55.20 percent increase year over year.
