According to preliminary statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), the United States imported 48.118 million square meters of knitted fabrics of category 222 from China from January to February 2009, an increase of 119% over the same period in 2008; it imported 347 categories of men’s clothing. 1.671 million dozens of cotton pants were imported, a year-on-year increase of 71%; 4.39 million dozen women’s cotton pants of 348 categories were imported, a year-on-year increase of 53%. In addition, categories such as 339 categories of cotton women’s knitted shirts and 652 categories of chemical fiber underwear also increased by more than 50%. The growth in exports of some categories in the first two months of 2009 was due to factors such as the removal of quantity restrictions in 2009 and the postponement of shipments by companies, but the trends are worthy of attention.
Preliminary statistics on textiles and apparel from the U.S. Department of Commerce can be found through the following link: http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/prelimadmin/prelimdata.htm
Relevant enterprises are requested to pay timely attention to the progress of exports to the United States in relevant categories, arrange production reasonably, and closely guard against foreign trade risks while maintaining stable export growth.
China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles
March 12, 2009
