Apparel imports created a new record in May despite the trend of ‘Made in USA’. Data released by the US Commerce Department states that apparel imports rose by 4.9 per cent in May compared to the same periods last year, and touched over $7 billion. This capped three consecutive months of year-over-year growth.
Retail apparel is growing by at least 2 per cent. This indicates that imports are gaining compared to domestically-produced goods. Overall imports fell by 7.2 per cent in that month to $188 billion. The fall was due to reasons like a by big decline in oil prices and a drop in share value of manufactured and consumer goods. This also includes machinery and industrial supplies.
Apparel import growth was 3.4 per cent in May, ahead of April’s increase and this was the biggest jump in more than a year. This was based on a 12-month smoothed basis, which corrects for volatility of data in a particular month. The top five sourcing destination for US apparels this year were: India, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Though Indonesia’s apparel exports to the US has dropped in the first five months compared to last year.
