According to statistics on Japanese apparel imports in January 2018, as compiled by The Japan Textiles Importers Association on the basis of Ministry of Finance trade statistics, imports decreased with the volume falling 9.4% from the previous year to 309.78 million units, along with the value by 9.8% to 226,568 million yen.
The import decreases are attributed to the difference in the Chinese New Year time period.
Apparel imports from ASEAN kept on growing: 88.41 million units (up 13.4%) worth 63,868 million yen (up 11.3%). Imports rose for both knitwear and woven garments. Imports from Indonesia posted remarkable growths: 12.26 million units (up 30.0%) valued at 9,391 million yen (up 26.6%). Also leading apparel imports from ASEAN were Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Meanwhile, imports from Bangladesh decreased by 1.6% to 15.12 million units with the value declining by 4.9% to 8,010 million yen.
Imports from China dropped 17.2% and 18.8% respectively to 197.35 million units worth 134,616 million yen.