EU clothing imports from China dropped by a considerable volume of 9.9 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to that of last year, reveals Textiles Intelligence in a recent report. This drop follows a 12.5 per cent decline in the whole of 2015 which dragged imports down to the lowest level since 2006. The decline in both periods represented the steepest falls among EU’s 10 largest clothing suppliers. As a result, China’s share of EU clothing imports from all sources declined in both periods from 43.3 per cent in 2014 to just 35.1 per cent in the first three months of 2016.

Going by facts, China remained by far EU’s largest clothing supplier in the first three months of 2016 but a number of other countries gained market share. On the other hand, EU clothing imports from Bangladesh rose 4.2 per cent in the whole of 2015. This showed a rise of 8 per cent in the first three months of this year. As a result, Bangladesh’s share of EU clothing imports from all sources in the latter period reached 24.6 per cent.

During the first three months of this year, the average price of EU clothing imports from China fell by 0.3 per cent while the average prices of imports from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam rose noticeably.