Patterns of production, trade and consumption of textile and apparel products changed significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed economic activity and disrupted supply chains, says an official US report that examined the factors underlying the export competitiveness of the apparel industries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.
THE REPORT: The 346-page report, Apparel: Export Competitiveness of Certain Foreign Suppliers to the United States, brought out by the United States International Trade Commission compares the relative US import market shares of each of the above-listed suppliers in 2013, 2018 and 2023.
- It analyses changing patterns in market share and trade, including against other top suppliers.
- Next, it provides a literature review of the key determinants driving export competitiveness and summarizes the factors of export competitiveness in the apparel industry.
- It contains country-specific profiles and an assessment of the export competitiveness in the U.S. market of the apparel industries in the above-listed countries.
THE FINDINGS: Exports of apparel to the United States, the largest global market, remained steady until recent years during 2013–23.
- The United States was the largest single-country apparel importer in the world, sourcing the majority of its apparel from Asia.
- The US imported $79.3 billion worth of apparel in 2023, accounting for about one-fifth of global imports.
- The two largest sources of US apparel imports by value were China and Vietnam, which together accounted for 39% of all US apparel imports in 2023.
- Of the countries profiled in this report, referred to as the “five profiled countries,” Bangladesh was the largest US supplier by value, supplying 9.0% of US apparel imports ($7.1 billion), followed by India ($4.6 billion, or 5.8%), Indonesia ($4.2 billion, or 5.3%), Cambodia ($3.4 billion, or 4.3%), and Pakistan ($2.1 billion, or 2.6%).
- Other top suppliers of US apparel imports in 2023 were Mexico, Honduras and Italy.
- During 2013–23, overall US apparel imports averaged $83 billion annually, with values in 2013 and 2023 close to $80 billion.
- Within this 11-year time frame, however, import data reflect two distinct periods, 2013–19 and 2020–23, broadly defining the time before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019. The period between 2013 and 2019 was one of relative market stability in the US and global apparel sectors.
- In the US, apparel imports grew from $80.4 billion to $86.0 billion during this period, about 1% annually on average.