US Imports Continue to Fall

It is reported by WASHINGTON  that American Apparel  and textile import levels continued to spiral down in November, dropping for the ninth consecutive month.
 

Textile and apparel shipments to the U.S. declined 10.5 percent in November to 3.7 billion square meter equivalents compared to the same period last year, the Commerce Department's Office of Textiles & Apparel said today. Year-to-date shipments are also off, falling 5 percent for the period ended Nov. 30.
 

Apparel and textile import levels each fell in November. Apparel shipments dropped 5.7 percent year-over-year to 1.7 billion SME, while textiles declined 14 percent to 2.1 billion SME. Imports of textiles and apparel from China declined 11.3 percent compared with November 2007 to 1.5 billion SME. Shipments from Canada fell 26.8 percent to 97 million SME, and imports from Mexico declined 24.2 percent to 182 million SME.
 

Vietnam continued to perform against trend in November, raising its imports to the U.S. of textiles and apparel 12.3 percent to 147 million SME. Bangladesh increased shipments 13 percent to 109 million SME. India's shipments advanced 8.3 percent to 230 million SME.
 

The top five apparel suppliers to the U.S. in November were China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Honduras and Indonesia. China was also the top textile source for U.S. imports, followed by Pakistan, India, Mexico and South Korea.
 

The overall trade gap narrowed to $40.4 billion in November from $56.7 billion in October, driven mostly by plunging oil prices and import levels.