Year in Review: Textile and Apparel Imports and Exports
Mexico held its place as the largest U.S. trading partner, accounting for $8.6 billion in imports for 2000 (through October, the most recent data available) and taking in $5.2 billion in U.S goods. The import and export data tracked by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTA) does not take into account passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), which went into effect Oct. 1, 2000. The OTA numbers only cover 2000 through October, the most recent data available. The countries that are part of the CBI took the second spot for both imports, at $8.1 billion, and exports, at $4.2 billion. Both fabric and yarn imports from Mexico increased compared with the same period last year. Yarn imports from Mexico increased 16.9 percent to $187 million for 2000 through October. Fabric imports increased 22 percent to $409 million during that same period. Yarn imports from CBI countries were up 16.6 percent to $7 million for the year through October compared to the same period last year. But fabric imports from those countries were down 8.3 percent to $11 million during the same period.
Exports of yarn and fabric to Mexico and CBI countries remained high and have already exceeded last year’s numbers, but exports of apparel from Mexico are down from last year. Fabric exports to Mexico increased 14 percent to $2.5 million for the year-to-date, topping the 1999 totals at $2.2 million. Apparel exports dipped 4.0 percent to $2 million for the year through October, but are trailing 18.3 percent behind 1999’s total $2.5 million.
