The exports of textile and apparel from United States were up by 18.62 per cent year-on-year in the first ten months of last year. The value of exports stood at $18.803 billion during January-October 2021 compared to $15.850 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce.
Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 27.05 per cent year-on-year to $4.988 billion, while textile mill products rose 15.85 per cent to $13.815 billion during the first ten months of 2021.
Among textile mill products, yarn exports increased by 25.11 per cent year-on-year to $3.255 billion, while fabric exports were up 14.27 per cent to $7.193 billion and made-up and miscellaneous article exports grew 11.16 per cent to $3.365 billion.
Country-wise, Mexico and Canada together accounted for nearly half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $5.251 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the ten-month period, followed by $4.421 billion to Canada and $1.178 billion to Honduras.
In recent years, the US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. However, the value decreased to $19.330 billion in 2020 due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, it is likely that US textile and apparel exports would again cross the $22-billion mark.