According to OTEXA, USA imported US $ 760.28 million worth of garments from India during Jan.-Feb. ’20 period. The growth, however, remains marginal – 0.91 per cent on Y-o-Y basis.
Only 5 product categories witnessed export values greater than US $ 50 million and these products are T-shirts, trousers, ladies dresses, ladies blouses and kidswear. Out of these 5, just 2 products, kidswear and ladies dresses, saw growth, while rest fell in their respective export values.
Value-wise exports of T-shirts from India to USA fell 9.30 per cent and clocked US $ 174.70 million revenue. Trousers’ shipment value, on the other hand, to USA stood at US $ 79.25 million which is down by 8.45 per cent from a year earlier.
Markedly, the import of USA of both T-shirts and trousers also plunged by 7.51 per cent and 10.74 per cent, respectively.
Further, ladies blouses, one of the strongest export categories from India, also saw negative growth of 2.16 per cent in the first two-month period of 2020. The recorded export values were US $ 111.70 million.
On the other hand, ladies dresses noted significant boost of 31.75 per cent and shipment of the same valued at US $ 122.18 million.
Another profitable category was kidswear, which got a boost by 25.37 per cent. The export value of kidswear to USA stood at US $ 61.10 million, despite USA falling by 4.25 per cent in its import of kidswear.
Given the market conditions due to COVID-19, it is highly unlikely that apparel export will pick up in coming months.