Over the past five years, Australia has witnessed a surge of approximately 50 per cent in apparel imports from ASEAN. Moreover, Australia’s cotton exports to ASEAN have skyrocketed by an impressive 8.50-fold during the same period, highlighting the burgeoning trade relations.

Australia's apparel imports from ASEAN surged to $1,003.394 million in January-November 2023, with projections indicating a potential rise to $1,100 million by December 2023. This anticipated increase signifies a remarkable 50 per cent upsurge compared to the imports recorded in 2019, reflecting the robust growth trajectory, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro.

Despite facing COVID-related challenges in 2020, when Australia’s apparel imports from ASEAN decreased 7.08 per cent to $682.522 million, Australia demonstrated resilience in its textile trade with imports increasing to $868.154 million in 2021. In 2022, apparel imports from ASEAN touched $1,036.424 million, marking a 41 per cent increase over 2019 shipments.

Australia's significance as a major cotton-producing nation has been further accentuated in the post-COVID era, with ASEAN emerging as a key buyer of Australian cotton. In January-November 2023 alone, Australian cotton exports to ASEAN amounted to $1,653.661 million. Notably, exports surged to $1,861.262 million in 2022, representing an impressive 849 per cent increase over $196.918 million in 2019. The cotton exports had slipped to $106.283 million in 2020 due to COVID, but 2021 saw a rebound to $991.251 million, per TexPro data.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)