The import textiles and apparel by the US increased by 3.78 percent year-on-year during the first ten months of 2013 to $88.954 billion, according to the data released by the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), U.S. Department of Commerce.

 

With $35.467 billion worth of supplies, China had a lion’s share and accounted for 39.76 percent of all US textiles and apparel imports during the ten-month period.

 

However, it was Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which saw a double-digit rise in their exports, among the top 15 textiles and clothing suppliers to the US during the period.

 

The US imports of textiles and garments from Vietnam touched $7.414 billion from January to October 2013, registering a jump of 13.76 percent over imports worth $6.517 billion made during the corresponding period of last year.

 

The imports of textiles and garments from Sri Lanka reached $1.379 billion during the period under review, showing a rise of 12.14 percent over $1.230 billion worth of imports made by the US during the same period in 2012.

 

The supplies of textiles and clothing from Bangladesh to the US surged 11.67 percent to $4.444 billion, against the US imports of $3.979 billion in the first ten months of 2012.

 

Category-wise, apparel imports by the US grew 3.94 percent year-on-year to $67.972 billion, while non-apparel imports increased by 3.24 percent year-on-year to $20.982 billion.

 

Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $88.954 billion, cotton products accounted for $43.782 billion, while man-made fibre (MMF) products were worth $39.646 billion, followed by $4.045 billion of wool products and $1.480 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres.