US textile and apparel exports up 13.1% in first half

Exports of textile and apparel from the United States went up by 13.10 per cent year-on-year in the first six months of this year. The value of exports stood at $12.434 billion during January-June 2022 compared to $10.994 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce.

Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 24.97 per cent year-on-year to $3.489 billion, while textile mill products rose 6.07 per cent to $8.945 billion during the first six months of 2022.

Among textile mill products, yarn exports increased by 21.34 per cent year-on-year to $2.313 billion, while fabric exports were up 3.58 per cent to $4.460 billion and made-up and miscellaneous article exports grew 9.15 per cent to $2.171 billion.

Country-wise, Mexico and Canada together accounted for more than half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $3.460 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the six-month period, followed by $3 billion to Canada and $0.857 billion to Honduras.

In recent years, US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. However, the value dropped to $19.330 billion in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, US textile and apparel exports stood at $22.652 billion.