US has been the leader in denim fabric production since the 19th century and dominated the scene till the 90s. However, as is well known, the production capacities in US kept on decreasing in the last 2 decades and today the capacities are pale shadow of what they were before. However, it would still be a good idea to know how much of denim fabrics are ACTUALLY being produced in the US.
The special report has the following content:
- Table showing the actual production figures (quarterwise ) for blue denim fabrics in US in all quarters of 2009, 2010 and first 2 quarters of 2011 .
- Graph showing the trend of this production .
- Figures for actual consumption of denim fabrics in US for local jeans and other denim apparel production.
- Commentary.
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|
Quarter |
Production |
In linear meters (at 150 cm width) |
In Linear Meters (at 160 cm width) |
|
2009 1st |
40.68 |
27.1 |
25.4 |
|
2009 2nd |
38.36 |
25.6 |
24 |
|
2009 3rd |
39.54 |
26.4 |
24.7 |
|
2009 4th |
34.4 |
22.9 |
21.5 |
|
Total |
152.9 |
102 |
95.6 |
|
2010 1st |
44.78 |
29.9 |
28.0 |
|
2010 2nd |
34.37 |
22.9 |
21.5 |
|
2010 3rd |
34.03 |
22.7 |
21.3 |
|
2010 4th |
35.43 |
23.6 |
22.1 |
|
Total |
148.61 |
99.1 |
92.9 |
|
|
|||
|
2011 1st |
36.41 |
24.3 |
22.8 |
|
2011 2nd |
36.53 |
24.4 |
22.8 |
|
Total |
72.94 |
48.6 |
45.6 |
|
Extrapolated to Full year 2011 |
145.88 |
97.3 |
91.2 |
We can see from the table and chart above that the blue denim fabric production in US in 2011 has reduced compared to the production in 2009 and 2010. Compared to 2009, the reduction in 2011 is about 4.6%. This is not a huge reduction looking at how the US is getting uncompetitive when it comes to denim production. However, it is to be noted that the actual figures are till second quarter of 2011 and for the rest of the year we have extrapolated the first two quarter figures as the latest figures available are only till second quarter. The actual production in 2011 is likely to be lesser as the Liberty denim mill closed towards the end of 2011. In 2012 , the denim fabric production will be still lower as the complete impact of the closing of Liberty mill would be felt in this year. When we look at linear meters , we find that the production is between 90-100 million meters depending on the average width that we consider for these fabrics.
However, we will also see some increase in production of fabrics in the end of 2012 and the year 2013 as the Santana denim mill from Brazil , which has set up a new manufacturing unit at Texas , will start its production. This would be almost a historic time for denim industry in US – having a new denim mill starting its production – and would have been unheard of for a long time !.
The denim produced in US is mainly used to be shipped to Latin American countries including including Mexico for conversion into garments and for reimporting into US under various treaties like CAFTA. Some of the fabric is also used to produce denim jeans in US – though it is difficult to find how much of US denim is used in production of denim jeans in US. But the fabric consumed in US for domestic garment manufacturing in 2011 was about 41 million square meters which helped the country to produce about 20 million denim garments.
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