The U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel reported that the nation’s imports of textiles and apparel during January-May 2017 increased by 2.62% year-on-year to 25,105.85 million square meter equivalents (SME). However, the import value for the first five months decreased by 1.95% to US$40,545.80 million.
The breakdown of imports by item was: apparel – 10,548.17 million SME (up 2.54%), US$30,672.26 million (down 1.32%); and textiles – 14,557.68 million SME (up 2.68%), US$9,873.54 million (down 3.88%).
Textile and apparel imports from China grew by 4.90% in quantity to 11,259.91 million SME, but the value declined by 4.52% to US$13,458.27 million. The breakdown was: apparel – 3,951.31 million SME (up 5.06%), US$9,297.34 million (down 2.90%); and textiles – 7,308.59 million SME (up 4.81%), US$4,160.93 million (down 7.95%).