EU: Trends in EU Textile and Clothing Imports.
Overall, EU textile and clothing imports fell in value by 7.0% in 2009, to Euro74.93 bn (US$104.11 bn). This was the first fall since 2003. Textile imports were down by 16.2% in value terms and by 13.8% in volume, while clothing imports fell by 3.8% in value and 6.8% in volume.
Egytex News Desk
Source: marketpublishers.com
In the first two months of 2010, imports continued to decline-by 11.3% in value and 1.5% in volume-compared with the corresponding period a year earlier. However, the drop was due almost entirely to a fall in clothing imports, amounting to 14.4% in value and 9.4% in volume. Textile imports were down by a marginal 0.3% in value but rose by 5.2% in volume.
The average price of textile and clothing imports rose in 2009. However, the rise was due entirely to an increase in the price of clothing imports as the price of textile imports fell. Some suppliers increased their prices in order to maintain revenues in the face of falling sales volumes as the global financial crisis took hold. However, many suppliers have been moving to higher value products.
Seven of the ten largest textile and clothing suppliers to the EU raised their prices in 2009. Among these, the industry in Vietnam continued to increase its prices significantly after cutting them in 2006.
There was also a substantial rise in the average price of imports from Bangladesh. During the first two months of 2010, however, nine of the top ten suppliers cut their prices as they attempted to maintain sales volumes. The one exception was Tunisia.
Source: marketpublishers.com
From the Egytex news archive, first published on 29 June 2010. Figures and names are as reported at the time.
