The global COVID-19 pandemic has made a significant dent in the Japanese apparel retail industry, forcing the mass closures of retail stores in the country.

As a result, during January-April ’20 period, Japan imported 903.5 billion yen (US $ 8.41 billion) of garments, marking 9.60 per cent downfall on a yearly basis. According to the data released by Ministry of Finance, Japan was also down by 8.80 per cent in weight to import 2,076 million kg worth of garments from the world over.

Vietnamese apparel shipment to Japan valued at 149.29 billion yen (US $ 1.39 billion), marking a surge of 4.81 per cent on Y-o-Y basis.

China exported 486.05 billion yen (US $ 4.53 billion) of garments to Japan in the first 4 months of 2020, noting a drop of 14.43 per cent, while the exports of India valued at 11.71 billion yen (US $ 110 million) which was 21.58 per cent down from what it had exported the same period of the prior year.

Bangladesh too dwindled in its exports to Japan. The shipment from Bangladesh valued at 46.59 billion yen (US $ 434 million), noting 3.04 per cent fall on Y-o-Y basis.