Trends in world textile and clothing trade, January-February 2003

World textile and clothing trade fell by 2.7% in 2001 after growing by 6.3% in 2000. The setback in 2001 was due largely to the US recession which hit Asian exports to the US market. Some trade flows did increase though. Exports of textile materials from Western Europe expanded to fuel the apparel industries in Eastern Europe, while clothing exports rose from Eastern Europe to the West. Similarly, more textiles were shipped from North to Latin America, while apparel exports rose in the reverse direction. But exports from Asia to Western Europe declined, as did those from Asia to North America.

The US textile and clothing trade deficit rose by another 1.2% in 2001 to US$64.32 bn. 92% of the total was in clothing. But the EU deficit fell slightly. Also, at US$27.25 bn, it was still only 42% of the US figure?even though the two markets are similar in size. China continued to have the world?s biggest textile and clothing trade surplus while South Korea retained second place, even though its surplus fell by 19%. Taiwan?s surplus also shrank as the industry lost competitiveness. But Turkey staged a recovery as the weaker euro benefited firms in the Euro-periphery at the expense of those in Asia.

The world?s biggest textile exporter in 2001 was the EU, with China second. The EU was also the largest textile importer, followed by the USA. But China ranked as high as third. The EU also led the world?s clothing exporters, although China was the biggest exporter when EU intra-trade was excluded?and Bangladesh was the fastest growing. Almost 40% of the world?s clothing imports were shipped to EU countries in 2001 while the USA took nearly a third. But Mexico became the sixth biggest market and Russia rose to number eight. China has also become a significant market. But with annual clothing imports only US$1 a head, market opening still has a long way to go.

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