men’s jeans – DENIMSANDJEANS

Report on Imports of denim jeans into USA in 2007 & 2008 – a comparison

Sandeep Agarwal — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:35:20 +0000

Has the impending recession affected the imports of Denim into USA? Apparently no – if we go by the figures that have come. The imports of jeans into US has increased by 5% for the three quarters ended September 2008 as compared to the same period last year. It is also interesting to note that the increase has been uniform in both the Mens/Boys and Womens/Girls Jeans.

Figures of Imports of Jeans into USA in 2007 and 2008

Particulars	2007(million pcs)	2008(million pcs)
Men’s/Boys Jeans
1st qtr	49.38	43.99
2nd qtr	68.55	73.60
3rd qtr	84.62	94.58
Total (3 qtrs)	202.55	212.17 (+5%)
4th qtr	71.44
Grand Total	273.99
Women’s/Girls Jeans
1st qtr	46.27	42.78
2nd qtr	66.52	62.46
3rd qr	76.99	92.7
Total (3 qtrs)	189.78	197.94 (+5%)
4th qtr	59.98
Grand Total	249.76

Source:US customs

These figures seem to defy logic as we get continuous reports of falling consumption levels in US esp since the first quarter of 2008 showed reduced imports and we have seen the growth come only in 2nd and 3rd quarters. But we still have one quarter left in 2008 and we might see some fall here. Another possibilty is that the imports of cheaper denims might be slowly replacing that of more expensive ones and it might be causing some shift in volumes to the former category and affecting overall volumes positively. But I am sure that in the coming quarters we will see some impact of the recession on the imports of Jeans into US..

US Denim imports in 2007 & 2006

Men’s Jeans experience fall in imports into US – 6.82% in 2007

Sandeep Agarwal — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:43:38 +0000

As Compared to 2006 , the imports of Men’s Jeans into US has fallen 6.82% from 293 million pieces to about 273 million pieces in 2007.
The fall was consistent through the various quarters of 2007(as I mentioned last year) . The table below shows the figures of imports from various countries
IMPORTS OF MEN’S JEANS INTO USA (IN 2007) FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Country

Country	Million Pcs	Percentage Share
Mexico	97.71	35.66
Bangladesh	24.04	8.77
Pakistan	15.02	5.48
Honduras	14.35	5.23
China	13.32	4.86
Egypt	12.79	4.66
Cambodia	11.88	4.33
Costa Rica	11.79	4.30
Lesotho	9.90	3.61
Hongkong	6.54	2.38
Nicaragua	6.31	2.30
Guatemala	5.47	1.99
India	1.84	0.67
Jordan	1.57	0.57

Total Imports of Mens Jeans in 2007:: 273.93 million pcs
Source:US Customs

Some points are worth noting from the table:
a)Mexico still retains its position as number 1 exporter despite falling share.But that is expected to fall.
b)China is yet to make a significant mark in the US men’s jeans market.Though it will definitely.
c)Bangladesh has continued to make progress and has aquired a sizeable 9% share of the market.
However, its neighbour India still has an insignificant share of 0.67% and it shows that India is absolutely uncompetitive in Men’s Jeans.
d)Small countries like Lesotho have made great use of Sub-saharan treaties to increase exports to US
e)Egypt has gained a great share at the cost of Jordan due to benefits extended to it. Jordan has lost the share due to its rising costs.This is continue to grow and more and more of factories are expected to shift to Egypt.

The fall in the jeans imports is perhaps consistent with the fall in growth rate of denim consumption..

Rebound in US Men’s Jeans Imports in second qarter.

Imports of Jeans in US -2007 and 2008

Effect of rupee appreciation on exports of Mens,Boys jeans to USA in 2007

Sandeep Agarwal — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:34:14 +0000

The appreciation of the Rupee against the USD has taken its toll on the exports of all textile and apparel products from India. There has been a general fall in exports of apparel items across the board..
Lets have a look at how the rupee appreciation has affected the exports of Mens and Boys jeans from India to USA.. I have also taken comparative figures from Bangladesh to see how it fares vis-a-vis India..

Exports of Mens/Boys jeans from India and Bangladesh to USA in 2006 and 2007

	2006(doz pcs)	2007(doz pcs)	Change(%)
India
Ist quarter	24000	22000	-8
2nd quarter	24000	33000	37
3rd quarter	55000	63000	14
4th quarter	33000
Bangladesh
1st quarter	205000	312000	52
2nd quarter	390000	454000	16
3rd quarter	599000	739000	23
4th quarter	570000

Source :US customs

From the figures given above , we can see that the exports of jeans from India registered a fall of 8% in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. However, the second and the third quarter have seen a steady increase in exports of jeans to US inspite of the appreciation of rupee.
On the other hand, the exports from Bangladesh continue to register a robust increase in all the three quarters of 2007..Bangladesh,in any case, has a huge lead over India in exports of Jeans and it seems to be increasing the gap further.
What is interesting is that the exports from India have not registered a fall despite the huge appreciation of rupee. This signifies that the additional capacities of jeans manufacturing have been created in India and the increase in exports would have been very significant, had the rupee not appreciated so much.
However, the next 2 quarters would show whether the Indian companies can sustain the growth in exports despite rupee appreciation or not – though i believe that the exports may grow stably given the excess capacities available in the industry..