Sales Of Chinese Textiles in The U.S. Market Have Dropped Significantly

In the past two years, the prevention and control measures in the United States have been intermittent with the changes of the epidemic, and the major textile and apparel retail markets have also experienced ups and downs. The apparel retail market in the United States has recovered slowly after the government has taken various countermeasures and multiple rounds of economic stimulus plans, but the development is extremely uneven.

01

U.S. import and export trade in the post-pandemic era

Total U.S. retail sales in 2020 are basically the same as in 2019. However, the sales of apparel products are still in a difficult situation and have been in a negative growth trend. The annual sales decreased by 26.4% year-on-year. Entering 2021, under the multiple influences of the loosening of epidemic prevention and control, the stimulation of financial subsidies, and the rebound of consumer confidence, consumers are "retaliatory" consumption of clothing products. The sales of clothing products in 2021 will exceed 303.1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase. 48.8%, an increase of 12.9% over 2019, and the consumption of textiles and clothing has basically entered a normal development track.

U.S. textile and apparel imports fell in 2020, driven by domestic demand, but rebounded sharply in 2021. During this period, U.S. textile and apparel production and exports also rebounded. In the global textile trade, the United States has always been the largest market for textile consumption in the world, and has become an export market for developing countries with labor-intensive textile and garment industry as the leading industry.

The Textiles and Apparel Trade Balance report shows the U.S. textile and apparel trade balance with global and selected trading partners over the past three years. The trade balance report covers textile products and finished apparel, excluding raw cotton, unspun wool and man-made fiber products, leather, fur and plastic apparel categories. The report shows that in 2021, the United States will import US$130.779 billion in textiles and clothing from the world, an increase of 8.77% year-on-year. Among them, imports from China will be US$39.899 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 15.19%; in 2021, the United States will export textiles and clothing to the world US$22.653 billion, an increase of 17.19% year-on-year , of which, exports to China were US$848 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.57%.

The epidemic has brought many changes to the U.S. textile industry: the origin is closer to the market; the supply is more flexible; the product scale is smaller, cheaper and more durable; the correlation with the season is less; more focus on sustainability, etc. According to a McKinsey & Company survey of chief purchasing managers of 38 apparel companies, 71% plan to increase the share of nearshoring, of which 13% expect to increase their share by more than 10%, and 24% plan to increase their share in purchasing strategies Increase reflux. For U.S. companies, Central America ranks highest for future nearshoring activity, with about 80 percent of North American apparel companies planning to increase their share of sourcing in the region.

02

China's market share has dropped significantly due to increased tariffs

Recently, there have been renewed calls in the United States to reduce or exempt additional tariffs on China. In 2017, the United States imported 105.9 billion US dollars of all clothing, of which 38.6 billion US dollars were imported from China, and China accounted for 33.67% of the import share. Dependence on Chinese textiles and clothing, the proportion of textiles and clothing imported from China has dropped significantly in the following years.

In addition, India and Southeast Asian countries have obviously seized the US market. In 2017, the market shares of Vietnam, India and Bangladesh in the United States were 8%, 11% and 7% respectively, while from January to March 2022, the market share of Vietnam, India and Bangladesh in the US textile and apparel market rose to 10% , 13%, 11%, especially in Bangladesh, which has increased by 4 percentage points in the past three years.

The imposition of tariffs on Chinese textiles by the United States has led to a significant decline in China's share in the US textile market. In the past year, China's overseas textile and apparel orders have shifted significantly to Southeast Asian countries, India, Bangladesh and other countries. my country's export orders have decreased significantly, and downstream consumption has been affected. Some people in the industry believe that in a high inflation environment, maintaining the tariffs imposed on China will push up prices, which is not conducive to the recovery of the US economy. If the tariffs imposed on China are reduced or exempted, there will undoubtedly be some benefits. After all, foreign trade is still an important means for the prosperity of the textile industry.

In recent years, the highly automated and environmentally friendly textile industry has begun to return to the United States, and technological innovation has also brought great changes to the production methods of the textile industry. In addition to the investment in the expansion of production capacity and investment in new factories announced in the United States, most of the new investment comes from other countries outside the United States, including China, India, Mexico, Canada, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, etc. The US textile and apparel manufacturing industry is showing a gradual recovery. sign.