Exports of textiles and apparel from the US declined by 3.75 per cent in January-May 2023, reaching $9.907 billion, compared to $10.292 billion in the same period last year, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), US department of commerce. 

Among the top ten markets, textile and apparel shipments to the Netherlands increased by 23.27 per cent to $206.623 million in the first five months of 2023. Exports also increased to the United Kingdom (14.40 per cent) and Dominican Republic (4.15 per cent). However, shipments to Canada, China, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Japan experienced a decline of up to 35.69 per cent. The US supplied $2,884.033 million worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during this period, followed by $2,240.976 million to Canada and $559.200 million to Honduras. 

Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 4.35 per cent year-on-year to $3,005.094 million, while fabric exports decreased by 4.68 per cent to $3,553.589 million in January-May of this year. The exports of yarn and made-up and miscellaneous articles decreased by 7.67 per cent to $1,760.141 million and 10.71 per cent to $1,588.458 million, respectively, during the same period. 

US’ textile and apparel exports increased by 9.77 per cent to $24.866 billion in 2022 compared to $22.652 billion in 2021. 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. The value dropped to $19.330 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic.