EUs major textile and apparel import markets perform diverged in September

EU's major textile and apparel import markets perform diverged in September, with Turkey and India shrinking significantly

The latest data show that EU-27 imported 1.123 million tons of textile and apparel in August, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, and a cumulative year-on-year increase of 10.6% in Jan-Aug. In terms of import value, textile and apparel imports in August reached 14.02 billion euros, up 50.4% year-on-year, and the cumulative year-on-year growth rose 35.4% in Jan-Aug. The increase in import value was significantly higher than the quantity, indicating that the unit price climbed up sharply this year. Although the total import of the EU-27 in September has not yet been released, it is very likely to grow judging from the data of main imported markets.

Among the main import markets of EU-27, most markets performed well, especially China, Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and Pakistan, who had achieved good growth in the first half of this year. While in the second half of the year, the market performance gradually diverged, of which Turkey, India and Pakistan markets began to show negative growth. Yet China, Vietnam and Bangladesh still maintained positive growth.

Garment and ready-made goods are the mainstay, while China's cotton textile is less competitive in the EU market

From the perspective of imported varieties, knitted clothing, textile products and woven clothing accounted for more than half, followed by chemical fiber yarn, accounting for about 20%. The proportion of cotton products, yarn, and yarn fabrics is relatively small.

EU's imports of knitted clothing mainly came from Bangladesh and China, followed by Turkey. The import of woven clothing was mainly from China and Bangladesh, while the share of Turkey and Pakistan was relatively small. Other manufactured goods were mainly sourced from China, followed by India and Pakistan, and Turkey only accounted for a relatively small proportion. As for the origins of textile, chemical staple fiber and yarn mainly came from China and Turkey, followed by India. China was also the largest source of EU’s chemical filaments and fabric imports, which occupied an absolute advantage, then was Turkey and India. For cotton products and yarn, the sources were mainly Turkey, followed by India and Pakistan, yet the proportion from China was relatively small.

From January to August this year, the textile and apparel import demand of EU-27 performed well. Among the main source markets, Turkey and India gradually weakened in the second half of the year, especially in September when their year-on-year growth declined obviously. Other markets maintained a relatively acceptable growth. The total textile and apparel import of EU is expected to grow in September. As for the major products and market sources, garment and ready-made goods were the mainstay, while cotton textiles of Turkey, India and Pakistan were much more completive than those of China in the EU-27 market.

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