by Zhao Xinhua

U.S. Textiles & apparel imports still down

For the first two months of 2021， U.S. apparel imports– which marked the beginning of factory shutdowns in Asia last year and a pickup in demand in the States this year as vaccines rolled out–still declined 13.84 percent year-on-year to a value of USD 10.92 billion， the Commerce Departments Office of Textiles & Apparel （OTEXA） reported.

Only Pakistan of the Top 10 apparel suppliers saw an increase in the value of shipments to the U.S.， up 13.45 percent to USD 270 million. Imports from China， still the largest supplier even as its market share has narrowed significantly the past couple of years during the pandemic and tariff-fueled trade war with the U.S.， posted a decline of 9.22 percent in the period to USD 2.45 billion， according to OTEXA.

Among the other major Asian producers for U.S. brands and retailers， imports from No. 2 Vietnam declined 12.09 percent year to date through February to USD 2.1 billion and third-place Bangladeshs shipments fell 13.11 percent to USD 1 billion.

Imports from Cambodia decreased 14.08 percent to USD 451 million， Indias shipments were down 21.89 percent to USD 594 million and imports from Indonesia fell 29.62 percent to USD 553 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Western Hemisphere supplier nations Mexico， which saw its imports drop 13.25 percent to 282 million； Honduras， with shipments off 11.74 percent to USD 331 million， and El Salvador， with a decline of 10.63 percent to USD 242 million.

Looking deeper into OTEXA data， for the month of February compared to a year earlier， apparel import volume ticked up 3.2 percent to 2.07 billion square meter equivalents （SME）.

Notable volume gains were posted by China， up 24 percent to 718.34 SME； Pakistan， increasing 25 percent to 62.1 SME； Egypt， gaining 24.6 percent to 30.57 SME， Bangladesh， ahead 2.3 percent to 194.08 SME， and Guatemala， up 3.1 percent to USD 29.38 SME.

China also saw a 6.8 percent year-to-year gain in the month in value terms to USD 1.15 billion， up 15.3 percent to USD 123.09 million.

The U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the U.S. trade deficit increased USD 3.3 billion to USD 71.1 billion in February. The February increase reflected an increase in the goods deficit of USD 2.8 billion to USD 88 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of USD 50 million to USD 16.9 billion.

The import of textiles and apparel by the United States decreased by 6.98 percent to USD 15.580 billion in the first two months of 2021， compared to imports valued at USD 16.749 billion in January-February 2020. With 28.54 percent share， China was the largest supplier of textiles and apparel to the U.S. during the two-month period， followed by Vietnam with 14.83 percent share.

Apparel constituted the bulk of the textiles and apparels imports made by the U.S. during the initial two months of this year， and were valued at USD 10.914 billion， while non-apparel imports accounted for the remaining USD 4.666 billion， according to the latest Major Shippers Report， released by the U.S. department of commerce.

Global cotton ending stocks decline

According to the April global production and demand forecast released by the USDA， U.S. exports increased in 2020/21 and ending stocks fell. U.S. cotton production and domestic consumption were unchanged， exports were revised up by 250，000 bales to 15.75 million bales， ending stocks were 3.9 million bales， revised down by 300，000 bales， inventory-to-consumption ratio was 22 percent.The average price of upland cotton farms in the United States was 68 cents a pound， down 1 cent month-onmonth.

This month， global starting stocks and production for 2020/21 fell month-on-month， consumption increased and ending stocks fell by 1.1 million bales. The reduction in global initial inventories of 427，000 bales was due to a revision of consumption in Vietnam in the previous year. Global cotton production fell by 276，000 bales on a month-on-month basis， with the drop mainly from Australia and Turkmenistan. Global cotton consumption was revised up by 387，000 bales month-on-month due to higher consumption in China. Global cotton imports rose by 935， 000 bales， the highest level in eight years， with China adding 750，000 bales and Bangladesh adding 200，000 bales. Exports from Brazil， the United States and Egypt were up from the previous month.

Textile industry promotes the development of U.S. manufacturing industry

The textile and apparel sector helped boost U.S. manufacturing growth in February， new data shows， with the economy notching a ninth consecutive month of growth.

According to the latest Institute for Supply Management （ISM） ‘Report on Business， the February Manufacturing PMI （purchasing managers index） registered 60.8 percent – an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the January reading of 58.7 percent.

This figure indicates expansion in the overall economy for the ninth month in a row after contraction in March， April and May. The New Orders Index registered 64.8 percent， up 3.7 percentage points from January， while the Production Index registered 63.2 percent， an increase of 2.5 percentage points.

The New Export Orders Index registered 57.2 percent， an increase of 2.3 percentage points on last month， while the Imports Index registered 56.1 percent， a drop of 0.7 percentage points. Textile mills， and apparel， leather and allied products were among the 18 manufacturing industries to report growth in February.

Labor-market difficulties at panelists companies and their suppliers continued to restrict manufacturingeconomy expansion and will remain the primary headwind to production growth until employment levels and factory operations can return to normal across the entire supply chain.