WASHINGTON — Cambodia posted the largest increase in apparel and textile imports to the U.S. among the top 10 suppliers in August, while Mexico, Pakistan and India registered declines, the Commerce Department’s monthly report showed Tuesday.
Apparel and textile imports to the U.S. from Cambodia rose 33.6 percent to 120 million square meter equivalents in August compared with a year earlier. This comes after a period of modest import growth for the Southeast Asian nation, posting a 6.6 percent increase in combined imports to the U.S. for 12 months through August.
“Clearly, that suggests a rebound for Cambodia,” said Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association, noting that she expects to see more growth from the country, barring more unrest.
Workers and unions in Cambodia have fought for increases in the minimum wage in the past several months and are said to be closing in on a newly proposed higher wage rate.
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China, the largest apparel and textile supplier to the U.S., posted a 20.6 percent increase in apparel and textile imports to 3.4 billion square meter equivalents in August compared with a year earlier. Apparel imports from China were up 19.5 percent to 1.4 billion SME, while textile imports rose 21.3 percent to 1.9 billion SME.
The double-digit growth from China came despite rising labor costs and competition from other top suppliers, such as Vietnam.
“People continue to talk about looking for sourcing outside of China, but when it comes to key shipping times — and clearly August is when companies are starting their holiday shipping — China remains a safe harbor and the location that companies go back to,” Hughes said.
Nate Herman, vice president of international trade at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said he was surprised that China outpaced Vietnam in apparel imports for the month of August.
“Labor costs are still rising, but I think it gets back to reliability and you can get products you want when you want them,” Herman said.
Vietnam, the second-largest supplier to the U.S., which is also a partner in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that was clinched on Monday after nearly six years of negotiations, continued to post double-digit increases in apparel imports.
Apparel imports from Vietnam to the U.S. rose 18.8 percent in August to 298 million SME from a year earlier.
“There has been a trend for many years of this double-digit-growth from Vietnam,” Herman said. “It is a good place to source from regardless of whether TPP is [in place]. But a number of companies [have calculated] that it is good to get into Vietnam now as opposed to waiting for TPP to go into effect because of the possibility of capacity issues down the road.”
Apparel and textile imports from Mexico fell 10.5 percent to 198 million SME, while combined imports from Pakistan declined 4.3 percent and imports from India dropped 1.65 percent.
Overall apparel and textile imports to the U.S. from the world increased 13.3 percent in August to 6.2 billion SME compared with a year earlier. Apparel imports were up 13.4 percent to 2.8 billion SME, while textile imports gained 13.1 percent to 3.3 billion SME.
The U.S. trade deficit widened to $48.3 billion in August from $41.8 billion in July, driven in part by a big jump in cell phone imports associated with Apple’s release of the iPhone 6s, according to IHS Global Insight.
“The August trade numbers suggest that trade will be a drag on third quarter growth,” said Patrick Newport, U.S. economist at IHS. “The bite will likely be a reduction in real GDP growth of about 0.5 to 1 percentage points, depending on September’s trade figures. The trade sector will continue to hold back growth for the next two years, since the dollar continues to strengthen and since the effects of a strong dollar take several quarters to filter through into prices and quantities.”