US textile & apparel exports down 1% in Q1 2021

Category-wise, apparel exports decreased by 0.27 per cent year-on-year to $1.345 billion, while textile mill products dipped 1.25 per cent to $3.964 billion during the first quarter of 2021.

Among apparel, the highest growth of 146.64 per cent was registered in exports of women and girls' suit-type coats, whereas the highest decline of 69.25 per cent was seen in exports of men and boys' suits.

Among textile mill products, yarn exports dipped by 9.97 per cent year-on-year to $906.657 million, while fabric exports increased slightly by 0.98 per cent to $2.099 billion and made-up article exports were up by 3.20 per cent to $958.695 million.

Country-wise, Mexico and Canada together accounted for nearly half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $1.526 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the three-month period, followed by $1.265 billion to Canada and $320.175 million to Honduras.

In recent years, the US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. However, the value decreased to $19.330 billion last year due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)