Apparel opportunity is finally coming towards South Asia as exports from East Asian giant China and start-ups Cambodia and Vietnam is on decline at least in the United States. According to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel reports, after textile and apparel exports started declining in the recent months, China, Vietnam and Cambodia took the largest hit with a decline of 43.3 per cent, 22.4 per cent and 22 per cent respectively in the month of March compared with February 2016.

Textile exports decline in March ’16 compared with March ’15 was 42.1 per cent for China, 22.6 per cent for Vietnam and 34.4 per cent for Cambodia. Textile and apparel exports from India increased by 15.3 per cent in March compared with exports of same items in February 2015. Bangladesh recorded an export increase of 7.9 per cent during the same period while Pakistan’s exports in textiles and apparel increased by 8.8 per cent.

However, when compared with March 15 the increase in exports from these countries was much lower. The increase in exports from India was only 1.4 per cent, Bangladesh and Pakistan recorded negative exports of 0.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.