As e dollar remained strong against other currencies, US apparel imports rebounded in March. Apparel imports surged 19 per cent in March, compared to the same month last year, to $7.9 billion. The increase greatly outpaced that of overall imports, which rose by only 1.8 per cent to $199 billion in the month.

In late February, an agreement was reached between the parties in West Coast ports to slowdown, and the huge backlog of imported goods finally began entering the US, which helped boost March apparel import figures. On a 12-month smoothed basis, which corrects for volatility of data in a particular month, apparel import growth was 3.3 per cent in March, its largest increase in five months and three times February’s growth rate.

China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India are the top five of US imported apparel so far this year, though Indonesia has seen its apparel exports to the US drop in the first three months of the year compared to 2014. Apparel exports continued to outperform the total export market, however, increasing by 3.2 per cent. Overall exports of goods and services dropped 6.2 per cent in the month, hurt by the strength of the dollar.