Denim is the booming segment in the global apparel industry… However, the same is not the case with the US market as the denim fabric import to the country during the current January to April period has plunged significantly in both value and volume terms.
Value-wise, the US noted a decline of 14.12 per cent in fabric import at US $ 22.8 million when compared with US $ 26.55 million in the corresponding period of 2016. Whereas, against the import of 1,05,17,692 square metres of denim fabric in the first four months of 2016, the US witnessed 14.42 per cent drop this year to settle at 90,01,306 square metres.
China (US $ 6.09 million; down 7.98 per cent), Japan (US $ 5.56 million; down 24.59 per cent) and Mexico (US $ 4.27 million; down 17.53 per cent) emerged as ‘three key denim fabric exporters to the US during the said period. India remained at 6th position with denim fabric export worth US $ 0.98 million to the US with a massive drop of 53.31 per cent on the yearly note.
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It’s worth mentioning here that in 2015, the US imported 2,50,53,094 square metres of denim fabric worth US $ 74.27 million and in the following year (2016) it registered 2,70,00,767 square metres import, totalling US $ 69.54 million, as per the USA import data and analysis.
This continuous shrink in denim fabric import by the US is attributed much to the drought-like situation in Los Angeles, the denim hub of the country, and the strict ‘water recycling laws’ as denim processing requires a lot of water. If the importer will not be able to convert fabric into final products, the import figures will keep plummeting in the future as well which might well be a cause of concern for the denim industry in the US.