Tag: US Denim Imports

US Imports 2016 | Men’s Jeans Fall While Women Jeans Rise!

The denim market scenario is US does not look too rosy with the latest statistics coming out. The market saw a down trend with the Menâ€™s jeans imports taking a knock in the first quarter of 2016 . Going down 4.4% in absolute quantities, the menâ€™s denim apparel carried forward the trend of the last few years of slump in demand. Lets see below the data of Menâ€™s Denim and Womenâ€™s denim apparel imports into the US in the first quarter of 2016.

Menâ€™s Denim Imports (2015-2016, 1st quarter)

Year Menâ€™s Denim Apparel % change

2015 (Jan-March) 46.92 million pcs

2016 (Jan-March) 44.88 million pcs -4.4%

The first quarter of the year is normally the slowest of the four quarters.Â Though not too much can be predicted for the whole year but the starting of the year does not inspire.

Womenâ€™s denim however, does inspire a bit as itÂ does not go negative and keeps its head over water with a marginal 0.4% growth.

Womenâ€™s Denim Imports (2015-2016 , 1st quarter)

Year Womenâ€™s Denim Apparel % change

2015 (Jan-March) 41.19 million pcs

2016 (Jan-March) 41.55 million pcs +0.4%

The second quarter would be critical as it would define the movement of the denim demand and the resultant imports from around the world â€“ which constitutes more than 95% of total denim consumed in US.

The denim apparel imports into US peaked in 2013 at about 522 million pcs but slowly declined and fell to 475 million pcs in 2015. It remains to be seen how this year will perform. The initial data is not encouraging !

May 16, 2016

US Denim Imports | Bangladesh And China | 2009-2015

U.S. imports from Asia, the largest regional supplier â€” accounting for three-quarters of all sector imports. Amongh the countries China and Bangladesh are two important countries which are major exporters of denim apparel to US.Â In this report, we have explained the trends in imports into USA during 2009 to 2015 these two countries .Â The report consists of following tables and graphs to bring out the details of the business from these countries.

Serial No	Particulars
1	TableÂ Showing Imports of all Denim Apparels(Million Pcs) and Average PriceÂ into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
2	Graph showing Imports of all Denim Apparels into USA from China forÂ the yearsÂ 2009-2015
3	Graph showing Average PriceÂ of Imports of all Denim Apparels into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
4	TableÂ Showing Imports of Menâ€™s JeansÂ and Average PriceÂ into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
5	Graph showing Imports of Menâ€™s Jeans into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
6	Graph showing Average PriceÂ of Imports of Menâ€™s JeansÂ into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
7	TableÂ Showing Imports of Womenâ€™s JeansÂ and Average PriceÂ into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
8	Graph showing Imports of Womenâ€™s Jeans into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
9	Graph showing Average Price of Imports of Womenâ€™s Jeans into USA from China for the years 2009-2015
10	TableÂ Showing Imports of all Denim ApparelsÂ and Average Price into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
11	Graph showing Imports of all Denim Apparels into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
12	Graph showing Average Price of Imports of all Denim Apparels into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
13	TableÂ Showing Imports of Menâ€™s JeansÂ and Average PriceÂ into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
14	Graph showing Imports of Menâ€™s Jeans into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
15	Graph showing Average Price of Imports of Menâ€™s Jeans into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
16	TableÂ Showing Imports of Womenâ€™s JeansÂ and Average PriceÂ into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
17	Graph showing Imports of Womenâ€™s Jeans into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
18	Graph showing Average Price of Imports of Womenâ€™s Jeans into USA from Bangladesh for the years 2009-2015
19	Table showing share of China and Bangladesh into the total import of all denim apparels of USA for the years 2009-2015
20	Graph showing share of China and Bangladesh into the total import of all denim apparels of USA for the years 2009-2015

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Imports From China

Till the year 2010 , everything was perfect â€“ imports of denim apparel from China were increasing at a good pace and was almost at theirÂ highestÂ . However, from 2010 the scenario started worseningÂ with every passing year. With a growth in the import by 14.28% in 2010 , no one had predicted that the imports from China to USA will be fallen by 28.08% by the end of the year 2011. In 2012 the conditions seemed to be bit improved but again in 2014 as well as in 2015 the imports fell down . In 2013 the total imports were 155.23 million pcs which reduced to 133.13 millions pcs by the end of 2015 . The average price of imports (US$/Pcs) also changed , however the degree of change was bit lesser against the substantial decline of imports over the years. In 2009 the Average Price was US$7.49/Pc which reached to its all time high in 2013 at US$8.43/Pc.Â From 2012 , it started reducing but in 2015 it again rose by 2.13% and reached to US$7.52/Pc

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	160.01	186.66	145.74	147.29	155.23	135.37	133.13

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
US$/pc	7.49	7.29	8.43	7.99	7.93	7.36	7.52

Segregating the total imports into two parts ; Menâ€™s Jeans and Womenâ€™s Jeans , the share of Menâ€™s Jeans seems to be lesser as compared to Womenâ€™s Jeans. The Import of Menâ€™s Jeans was only 44.27 Million Pcs while the import of Womenâ€™s jeans was whopping 115.74 million pcs for the same year. Imports of both Men and Women Jeans declined but the import of Men jeans fellÂ by whopping by 53.52% in 2011 while the import of women jeans fell by 20.84% in 2011. Year 2014 and 2015 were also not so encouraging for China and from 49.54 million pcs in 2010 , the import reduced to 31.13 million pcs of Menâ€™s Jeans in 2015. The trend to fall also observed in the womenâ€™s jeans and the major fall was in 2014 when the imports fell byÂ 13.26 % after registering a growth of 5.36% in 2013.

The average price of Menâ€™s jeans increased from US$7.91/pcs in 2009 to US$9.43/pcs in 2012 while the average price of Womenâ€™s jeans were increased from US$7.32/pcs in 2009Â to US$8.15/pcs in 2015

Menâ€™s Jeans Imports (million pcs)

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	44.27	49.54	32.27	35.28	36.88	30.84	31.13

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
US$/PC	7.91	7.81	9.43	8.39	7.77	7.67	7.97

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	115.74	137.12	113.47	112.01	118.36	104.53	102

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average Price	7.32	7.1	8.15	7.86	7.97	7.27	7.38

Bangladesh

The second major exporting country is Bangladesh which is now one of the major denim manufacturing country and the closest competitor of China. From the declining trends after the year 2010 , Bangladesh recovered in 2012 by showing a marginal growth in the export from 64.15 million pcs in 2012 to 72.23 million pcs in 2014 , however due to slowdown in the US economy , from 2014 again the imports started reducing and reached to the lowest level of 67.02 million pcs in 2015.

The average price in the span of 5 years starting from 2010 has changed by more than one dollar . In 2010 the average price was US$5.22/pc which rose to the level of US$6.53/pc in 2015 .

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	68.7	79.48	63.59	64.15	72.23	67.58	67.02

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average Price	5.22	5.16	6.41	6.41	6.3	6.4	6.53

Dividing Bangladeshâ€™s exports of denim apparel to USA into two ; Menâ€™s Jeans and Womenâ€™s Jeans, it was found that unlikeÂ China , Bangladesh exports Menâ€™s Jeans in larger quantities as againstÂ Women Jeans. In 2009 , Bangladesh exported 45.55 million pcs of menâ€™s jeans and 23.15 million pcs of womenâ€™s jeans to USA.Â Surprisingly in 2015 there was aÂ fall in the imports of Menâ€™s Jeans while there was a growth in the exports ofÂ Womenâ€™s Jeans. In 2015 , the import of menâ€™s jeans fell by 5.45% however the import of womenâ€™s jeans increased by 6.53%.

The Average price of Menâ€™s jeans in 2009 was US$5.13/pc while the womenâ€™s jeans was US$5.41/pc. From 2010 ,the growth in average price for the menâ€™s jeans was merely 14.45% ,however the growth in the average price of womenâ€™s jeans was more than twice from 2010 i.e 30.21%

Menâ€™s Jeans

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	45.55	52.87	42.9	42.02	46.09	43.54	41.29

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average Price	5.13	5.21	6.57	6.34	6.24	6.2	6.09

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Million Pcs	23.15	26.6	20.69	22.13	26.14	24.05	25.73

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average Price	5.41	5.06	6.08	6.54	6.41	6.75	7.25

Analyzing the share of China and Bangladesh in the total imports by USA, it is found that whereÂ Bangladesh managed to increase its share by the end of every year , the share of China seems to be inconsistent and on average it reduced from 31.13% in 2010 to 28.33% in 2015. However the share of Bangladesh increased marginally from 13.26% in 2010 to 14.26% in 2015. Interestingly, the total exportsÂ by Bangladesh reduced from 79.48 million pcs in 2010 to million pcs to 67.02 million pcs in 2015. This was in line with the general reduction in the overall volume of imports of denim apparel into US. However, this is not the case for all countries. Some countries like Vietnam have shown remarkable improvements in exports of apparel to US during the same period.

Year of	World	Bangladesh	Â	China	Â
Import	(million pcs)	(million pcs)	% Share	(million pcs)	% Share
2009	568.46	68.7	12.09%	160.01	28.15%
2010	599.57	79.48	13.26%	186.66	31.13%
2011	511.31	63.59	12.44%	145.74	28.50%
2012	493.77	64.15	12.99%	147.29	29.83%
2013	515.03	72.23	14.02%	155.23	30.14%
2014	474.06	67.58	14.26%	135.37	28.56%
2015	469.98	67.02	14.26%	133.13	28.33%

From the graph below, we can see that the share of China receding and that of Bangladesh comparatively better but not increasing as such.Â The market share of US is continuously falling and unless the market improves the exports from any of the countries will not increase either.

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April 26, 2016

US Women Jeans Imports Rises 2.2 percent While Men`s Jeans Imports Fall 2 Percent | 2015

The US imports of denim apparel including jeansÂ show an overall fall of 0.3% in the period Jan-Sept,2015 compared to the same period like last year. This shows the total demand for denim jeans and apparel is almost same with a marginal fall. However, the total demand of denim apparel in US still lags behind that of 2013 figures by a good margin. Against a total imports of denim apparel of about 522 million pieces in 2013, the country is struggling to even reach a figure of 500 million pieces in imports . In 2014, the imports stuck at 479 million pcs and are likely to be similar quantity this year- may be with a slight fall as we see the figures of 2015 till September.

US Imports of Denim Apparel (in million pcs)

2013	2014	2014 (Jan-Sept)	2015(Jan-Sept)
522	479	354	353

The US market is more or less a saturated market and theÂ fashion , styles , market shares of brands, prices etc are the main parameters witnessing changes. The quantities and average consumption have reached a ceiling which was defined in 2005.

However looking a bit deeper we find some interesting dynamics. The womenâ€™s jeans seem not to be losing their sheen as the imports and hence sales are witnessing a growth for this segment. The imports of womenâ€™s jeans increased by about 2.2% in the year 2015 and at the same time, the menâ€™s jeans imports fell by about 2% creating a net balance on import figures.

Letâ€™s look at the figures of womenâ€™s and menâ€™s jeans and denim apparelÂ imports and their respective prices below. We will also see interesting info. on changing dynamics of supplier countries for these two segments.

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Womenâ€™s Denim Apparel Imports (2013-2015)

	2013	2014	2014 (Jan-Sept)	2015 (Jan- Sept)
Quantities in million pcs	245	217	160	164
Av. Import Price (USD/pc)	8.02	7.90	7.96	7.87

From the above table, we can see that the imports of denim apparel for women has shown an increase of about 2 % in the current year till Sept 2015. The average price remains more or less same in the last 4 years â€“ hovering around $8.00 . Extrapolating the figures of current imports, it is likely that the figures of denim imports for women will cross 225 million pcs in the current year.

Menâ€™s Denim Apparel Imports (2013-2015)

	2013	2014	2014 (Jan-Sept)	2015 (Jan- Sept)
Quantities in million pcs	269	256	188	185
Av. Import Price (USD/pc)	8.16	8.14	8.12	8.07

When we look at the menâ€™s denim apparel, we find that the figures of imports reflect a fall in imports this year of upto 2%. From a high of 269 million pieces imports in 2013, 2014Â closed at about 256 million pcs and 2015 seems likely to close lesser than 250 million pcs. This reflects that menâ€™s jeans market is still not out of the tough time that has been going on for the market in the last few years . The price for menâ€™s jeans is a tad higher than womenâ€™s but is more or less the same.

Letâ€™s now look at how the two segments of denim market are being catered by supplier countries from around the world. First we look at womenâ€™s jeans and its supplier countries.

Women Denim Apparel Supplier Countries 2015 (Jan-Sept)

Country	2013	2014	2014 (Jan-Sept)	2015 (Jan-Sept)
China	118.80	104.21	74.5	77.1
Bangladesh	26.14	24.06	18.5	18.6
Pakistan	11.45	11.88	8.5	8.5
Vietnam	12.43	11.26	8.9	9.2
Mexico	11.45	10.88	7.9	6.1
Cambodia	10.43	9.95	7.5	8.1
Egypt	9.25	7.57	5.9	5.2
Nicaragua	10.08	6.56	5.3	2.5
Sri Lanka	5.02	6.25	4.5	4.5
Jordan	6.19	6.23	4.8	4.9
Indonesia	6.77	5.06	3.9	7.0
Lesotho	2.69	2.87	2.0	2.7
Kenya	2.90	2.66	2.2	1.9
India	2.72	1.98	1.4	2.0
Philippines	1.33	1.28	1.1	0.7

Note: All figures in million pcs.

From the above table we can see that China continues to dominate the women jeans market in US . Though its share has fallen over the years, it is still the largest supplier of womenâ€™s jeans to US. Bangladesh comes second after China followed by Pakistan and Vietnam. While Bangladesh and Pakistan have been growing their exports, Vietnam is a surprising challenger and it is expected to grow much faster once the TPP deal is implemented. Also, surprisingly, Mexico stands nowhere where the womenâ€™s jeans are concerned as the country could not gear itself up to cater to fashion products. Another country which has shown sudden spurt in exports is Indonesia. It has almost doubled its exports of womenâ€™s jeans to US.

Menâ€™s Denim Apparel Supplier Countries 2015 (Jan-Sept)

Country	2013	2014	2014 Jan – Sept	2015 (Jan-Sept.)
Mexico	109.1	105.2	77.1	75.8
Bangladesh	46.1	43.5	32.5	30.8
China	36.9	30.9	22.2	22.4
Nicaragua	13.6	12.0	8.7	9.5
Egypt	11.2	11.1	8.3	8.3
Lesotho	12.1	10.9	8.3	8.0
Pakistan	9.1	9.2	6.6	7.4
Vietnam	6.5	7.7	5.5	4.1
Cambodia	4.9	5.3	4.0	3.5
Indonesia	3.6	3.9	3.2	2.7
Colombia	3.0	2.4	1.9	1.8
Haiti	1.9	2.1	1.6	1.4
Mauritius	0.6	2.1	1.5	1.2
India	1.8	1.8	1.2	1.6
Guatemala	2.5	1.8	1.5	0.9
All Other:	6.3	6.1	4.5	6.0

Note:All figures in million pcs.

Mexico comes back in picture when we consider the menâ€™s jeans and apparel as it is the number one supplier to US . However, Bangladesh manages to displace China as the number 2 supplier as it has done in EU also. Bangladesh has shown great figures in the last 2 years and have surprised analysts and industry people. The country that has shown growth in exports despite falling imports of mens jeans is Pakistan â€“ which on the strength of its growing industry has been able to increase its exports despite fall in category imports. India, on a small base , has also shown improved exports.

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November 10, 2015

Denim Exports From Cambodia To US : 2011-2014

Garment industry is important for a developing country like Cambodia. Garment work employs 400,000 people. Last year it led to export of $5 billion in goods, accounting for nearly a third of GDP . Companies from Korea and Greater China own many of the factories. There had been a long struggle going on for wage increase by the unions there â€“ which resulted in minimum wages being increased 28% to $128 a month.

Denim is one of the important items of export from Cambodia to US market. However, is the share of denim in exports from Cambodia increasing or decreasing? We will try to find in this report the exports of denim apparel from Cambodia in the last 4 years ie from 2011 to 2014 . Also we will see how the prices for such exportsÂ have been moving during this time.

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Denim Exports To US From Cambodia|2011-2014

2011 2012 2013 2014

Quantities
(million pcs) 20.54 17.54 15.58 15.52

Price (US$/pc) 8.61 8.32 8.48 8.46

From the above chart we can see that the exports of denim apparel to US have , in fact , fallen during the period 2011 to 2014. Whereas in 2011 over 20 million pcs of denim apparel were exported to the US, it fell to about 15.5 million pcs â€“ a fall of about 25%. This would seem surprising as Cambodia is close to China and many of the factories are owned by Chinese . The increased costs in China should have led to increased orders for Cambodia.

However, when we look at the prices, we find that the prices are more or less stable in the last 4 years. Hovering between $8.3-$8.60 the prices have not taken much of a turn. But it would be interesting to note that the average price of denim exports from Cambodia is higher than average price of imports into US. The average price of denim apparel imports into US in 2013 was $8.10 against the price of $8.48 from Cambodia.

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February 10, 2015
Denim Fabric Imports Into US Fall 20% In 2014

It is no secret that the imports of denim fabrics into US has been constantly falling over the last 2 decades. There was a fillip to imports when the premium denim boom came up in mid 2000s . But that also peaked out in 2005-07 period. Now there is hardly any strong reason for the imports to pick up for US , unless the production of local denim fabrics falls further.

Details 2013 (Jan-Nov) 2014 (Jan-Nov) Difference %

Quantities (million sq mtrs) 26.4 21.03 -20.4%

Av. Price $3.21 $3.46 +8%

The imported quantities decreased by about 20% from 26.4 million sq mtrs to about 21 million sq mtrs. This is a sizeable decrease in a year and does not portend well for the local jeans manufacturing at US. However, we also see an increase in average price of the imported fabrics at about 8% despite decreased quantities. This is also indicative that the imports of premium denim fabrics seem to be sustaining better over lower priced denims.

February 6, 2015
Denim Apparel Import Into US Falls 7.5% in 2014

Imports of denim apparel into US has fallen by about 7.5% in the period Jan-Octâ€™14 compared to the same period in 2013.Â The imports fell by about 33 million pieces from 437 million pcs to about 404 million pcs during this period. The average price has also seen pressure with the same falling by about 8.6% from $8.12 per piece to about $8.03 per piece.

Imports of Denim Apparel | 2013-2014 (Jan-Oct)

Details 2013 2014 Difference (%)

Quantity (mn .pcs)
437 404 -7.5%

Price
$8.12 $8.03 -8.6%

It is worth noting that the imports of denim in US had increased in 2013 by over 4% compared to the year 2012 . However, the imports never touched the peak of over 600 million pcs that US achieved in 2005.

Denim sales in US have been under pressure as there has been strong competition from Yoga and Athletic wear with female consumers strongly moving in favor of the latter due to their versatility and comfort . Pioneers of form fitting garments like Spanx have been working to create stretchy pants that look like denim and steal consumers away from denim . On the other hand denim companies are fighting back and coming out with products to compete with Yoga wear. High stretch abilities going upto 100% with strong recoveries and low growths with high comfort quotient are being brought out by innovative companies. But it will take time before denim can recover lost ground. As per NPD group , US, the sale of active wear climbed 7% while denim sales fell leading top retailers to increase their offering of athletic and leisure apparel.

December 9, 2014

Madagascar Reinstated Into AGOA For Duty Free Imports Into US

AGOA is a U.S. preferential trade program established in May 2000 that provides duty-free access to the $3 trillion U.S. market for thousands of products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries. One goal of AGOA is to support sub-Saharan African economic development through trade and investment. The program offers tangible incentives to sub-Saharan African countries for undertaking difficult political and economic reforms that promote long-term growth and development. Madagascar was removed from AGOA on January 1, 2010 following a 2009 coup dâ€™Ã©tat by which the democratic govt. was overthrown. Swaziland , has however, been removed from the beneficiary list of AGOA countries.

Successful elections in late 2013 led to the formation of Madagascarâ€™s first democratic government since the 2009 coup. The United States has taken steps to normalize relations with Madagascar, lifted all coup-related restrictions on direct assistance to the Malagasy government, and invited President Rajaonarimampianina to attend the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington in August.

Swaziland

The decision to withdraw Swazilandâ€™s AGOA eligibility comes after years of engaging with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland on concerns about its implementation of the AGOA eligibility criteria related to worker rights. After an extensive review it was decided by the US govt. that the country no longer should be included in the list of beneficiary countries.
The latest updated list of AGOA countries includes the following names :

Angola,Benin,Botswana,Burkina Faso,Burundi,Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros,Congo (DROC),Congo (ROC), Djibouti , Ethiopia,Gabon, Gambia ,Ghana ,Guinea ,Guinea-Bissau , Kenya , Lesotho,Liberia ,Madagascar ,Malawi,Mali ,Mauritius ,Mozambique , Namibia,Niger ,Nigeria ,Rwanda ,Sao Tome & Prin ,Senegal,Seychelles , Sierra Leone, South Africa ,Tanzania ,Togo ,Uganda and Zambia

The inclusion of Madagascar in the list of AGOA countries will enable it to import fabrics from outside AGOA and use it for manufacturing garments for duty free exports to US. This should enable the country to regain its exports to US which had been stalled for last 3-4 years and could push up the exports of all apparel (including denim) from AGOA to US since Madagascar had been an important constituent of this region. Exports of denim apparel from AGOA had peaked in 2005 when the country used to export sizeable qty of about 40 million pieces and thence it has only declined its volumes of exports to less than half with increasing competition from Asian countries.

Exports of Denim Apparel From AGOA to US from : 2000 to 2006

Exporting Country	Year of Import	All Denim Apparel (million pcs)	Total Value (million US$)	Average Price (US$/pc)
Agoa	2000	13.2	86.58	6.56
Agoa	2001	21.1	141.47	6.71
Agoa	2002	21.71	141.16	6.5
Agoa	2003	32.22	203.21	6.31
Agoa	2004	33.49	235.65	7.04
Agoa	2005	40.16	256.23	6.38
Agoa	2006	37.9	235.43	6.21

But really, would this change make an immediate impact for Madagascar. We spoke to few people in the AGOA region to understand whether it would really help the country to work up its exports to US. Denim Specialist Vinay Narisimlu from Mauritius says :

â€œWith the withdrawal of AGOA benefits, many export units in Madagascar had closed down. Those which did not , started exploring the European markets and in the last 3-4 years have completely oriented their productions and systems towards these higher margin but low volume region. The companies to again focus towards the US markets may not be easy and the US markets may be better served by reopening of some of the units which closed down beforeâ€¦.â€

It remains to be seen if Madagascar really gets any benefit from the decision of the US govt. But surely , it will be helpful for the buyers from US to again relook at this country with interest.

July 1, 2014

18% Fall in US Imports Of Denim Fabrics in 2014

Reflecting a continuous slide in production of jeans in US, the denim fabric imports fell by about 18% in the first four months of 2014 (Jan-April) compared to similar period in 2013. The quantities of denim fabrics imported from around the world reduced from almost all major exporting countries including China, Mexico, Japan , Taiwan etc. The quantity of about 9.7 million sq mtrs was imported in 2013 and this fell to about 8 million sq mtrs. The table below shows the quantities both in sq. mtrs and in linear mtrs (at a standard width of 150cm) imported from different countries in 2014 vs 2013

Denim Fabric Imports Jan- April 2014 vs Jan- April 2013

Country	2013 in â€˜000 sq mtrs	2014 in â€˜000 sq mtrs	2013 in â€˜000 linear mtrs at 150cm width	2014 mtrs in â€˜000 linear mtrs at 150cm width
China	3,679	3,057	2452.67	2038.0
Mexico	2,019	1,711	1346.00	1140.7
Japan	915	841	610.00	560.7
Taiwan	896	849	597.33	566.0
Italy	722	754	481.33	502.7
Turkey	817	573	544.67	382.0
India	590	89	393.33	59.3
Hong Kong	38	15	25.33	10.0

As seen in the table above, China remains the highest exporter to US for its fabrics â€“ though it is estimated that much of this fabric goes for re-export to Latin American countries. Mexico , Japan, Taiwan and Italy come next in the rankings and export some quantities (not large) to US. These fabrics are mainly used for premium denim products made in US. But as we can see that the imports have been falling continuously for a few years and this is reflective of the fact that the usage of imported fabrics for jeans mfg. is falling in US.

The prices from different destinations to US are given in the following chart. As expected, Japanese prices are the highest . Turkish prices are very good and surprisingly higher than Italy. Indian prices are unexpectedly the lowest .

Prices of denim fabrics imported into US :
2013 & 2014 Jan-April

Country	2013 price in USD/sq. mtr	2014 price in USD/sq. mtr	2013 price in $/linear mtr. At 150cm	2014 price in $/linear mtr. At 150 cm
China	2.21	2.15	3.31	3.22
Mexico	2.09	2.13	3.13	3.20
Japan	6.71	6.64	10.06	9.95
Taiwan	2.25	2.09	3.37	3.13
Italy	4.91	5.57	7.36	8.35
Turkey	6.01	6.16	9.01	9.24
India	1.18	1.65	1.77	2.48
Germany	3.43	3.67	5.14	5.50
Pakistan	3.83	4.00	5.75	6.00

It is clear from above data that the imports of denim fabrics to US are under a continuous fall reflecting a falling usage of imported denim for production and , if we may generalize, a falling US production of jeans as fabric produced in US is not on an increase.

June 12, 2014

3.5% Fall in Denim Apparel Imports Into USA : 2012

Having received the figures for the complete year 2012, it is rather heartening to note that hte fall in imports of denim apparel in 2012 was only 3.5% less than that in 2011. The early 2012 had shown large reductions in imports and due to improved market conditions in US, these were set off in the latter part with the shortfall remaining at only about 3.5% . Going by the way the market has picked up , it would not be an improbability that 2013 may show higher imports than 2012 and 2011. Time will tell..

Here are the figures for imports in 2011 and 2012. While the total denim apparel imports in 2011 were about 520 million pieces, the imports in 2012 came to about 503 million pieces. The value of the imports also fell from $4.24 billion to $ 3.97 billion â€“ showing a fall in average value per piece of about 3% .

Check out the graph below :

So, though we see fall in both prices and quantities, it still is not very negative considering that the fall in imports in 2011 compared to 2010 was about 15%. It can be safely said that the US market is recovering and we hope to see better performance this year.

February 19, 2013

US Fabric Imports Up , Apparel Imports Down in 2012 !

The first five months of 2012 have seen an interesting trend in the US market. Whereas , the imports of denim apparel have been down 10.4% , the imports of denim fabric has been up 25% !!

The imports of denim apparel into US are not showing any signs of recovery. There is a continuous fall in imports since late 2011 and it continues well into May 2012. There has been a fall in the volumes , though the prices continue to rise â€“ showing the continued effect of rising costs of production in exporting countries. The fall in Jan-May is depicted below :

Jan-May	Million pcs	Value (US$ billion)	Average Price (US$/pc)
2011	176	1.379	$7.83
2012	157.8	1.314	$8.33
Change	-10.4%	-4.7%	+6.37%

On the other hand, we see that the denim fabric imports into US have increased in the same period by a significant number of about 23% .

Jan-May	Million sq mtrs	Value ($ million)	Avg. Price (US$/ sq mtr)
2011	11.37	36.82	3.23
2012	14	42.93	3.06
Change	+23.4%	+16.6%	-5.25%

It feel strange looking at such figures since fabric imports have been on a general decline for a long time and the jeans imports had been strong for about 7-8 years. The prices of jeans have been rising ever since the cotton prices rose and they still keep on rising . The major suppliers including China, Bangladesh have experienced increase in prices (source data section at Denimsandjeans.com )

The increase in denim fabric imports could be temporary , but it is still interesting to see that there is an effort to do more manufacturing in US or nearby countries (near sourcing). Another indication of this trend (as shown in tables below) is that one of the countries near US has gained significantly in terms of denim apparel exports to US even as others experienced serious falls.

It would be interesting to see where do which countries are losing in terms of jeans exports or which countries are gaining in terms of fabric imports into US. Lets see the analysis below in tables for :21.62

Table showing the top 10 exporting countries in denim apparel and their respective loss or gains in volumes and values during the Jan â€“ May 2011/2012 period.
Table showing top gainers in fabric exports.
Table showing Menâ€™s vs womenâ€™s denim apparel â€“ a comparison to understand which category contributed more to the fall.

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Denim Apparel Imports into US from various countries Jan-May 2011 vs 2012

Country	2011 (qty in mill. pcs)	2012 (qty in mill. pcs)	2011(value in US$ million)	2012(value in US$ million)	Change % qty	Change % value
China	48.39	42.98	385	346	-11%	-10%
Mexico	43.75	42.46	367	378	-2.9%	3%
Bangladesh	21.62	16.85	121	113	-22%	-6.6%
Nicaragua	8.07	9.74	46	55	20%	18.4%
Egypt	8.12	6.72	67	62	-17%	-7.8%
Cambodia	7.17	6.90	57	58	-3.7%	2.3%
Vietnam	5.11	5.70	40	46	11.5%	15.2%
Pakistan	6.59	5.26	50	41	-20%	-17.4%
Lesotho	5.50	4.05	35	32	-26%	-10%
Indonesia	3.46	2.71	25	23	-21%	-8%

It is interesting to see that countries near to US have not experienced the kind of reduced exports that other countries have experienced. Nicaragua, for example, has experienced a 18%+ increase in exports whereas , Mexico has suffered a marginal fall. Mexico has also reduced its difference in terms of volumes vis-a-vis China . These figures are an indication that nearsourcing is getting popular with US importers.

Lets have a look at which category â€“ menâ€™s or womenâ€™s is responsible for this fall that we are looking at. The results are surprising, it is womenâ€™s denim imports which have fallen at a rapid pace and lost over 13% in volumes. While menâ€™s denim apparel imports have mostly been higher than womenâ€™s , the difference seems to have increased much more this year.

Menâ€™s and Womenâ€™s Denim Exports Jan-May 2011/2012

Year	Menâ€™s qty	Womenâ€™s Qty	Menâ€™s Av. Price	Womenâ€™s Average price
2011	88.56	82.68	$8.03	$7.72
2012	82.32	71.16	$8.74	$7.96
change%	-7%	-13.92%	+8.8%	+3.1%

Denim Fabric Imports

Denim Fabric Imports Into US Jan-May 2011 vs 2012 (Top Exporters)

Country	2011 (qty in mill. sq mtrs)	2012 (qty in mill. sq mtrs)	2011(value in US$ million)	2012(value in US$ million)	Change % qty	Change % value
China	4.11	5.68	9.48	11.73	+38%	+23.8%
Mexico	2.15	2.44	4.85	6.08	+13.5%	+25.2%
Taiwan	1.81	2.08	3.54	4.36	+14.8%	+23.3%
Italy	1.25	1.43	6.65	7.61	+13.8%	+14.5%
Turkey	0.96	0.90	5.56	5.60	-6%	+1.5%
Japan	0.80	0.83	5.31	6.16	4%	+14.9%

The denim fabric imports in US , though not a huge quantity , rose significantly from some countries including China and Mexico. While the Chinese denim is , at many times, meant for reexport , still it is surprising to see such an increase â€“ indication some action in the garment production in US. The only loser among the top exporters was Turkey â€“ which lost about 6% in this period.. Otherwise, an overall increase of about 23% is quite positive figure for the garment manufacturing industry in US.