The first five months of 2012 have seen an interesting trend in the US market. Whereas , the imports of denim apparel have been down 10.4% , the imports of denim fabric has been up 25% !!
The imports of denim apparel into US are not showing any signs of recovery. There is a continuous fall in imports since late 2011 and it continues well into May 2012. There has been a fall in the volumes , though the prices continue to rise – showing the continued effect of rising costs of production in exporting countries. The fall in Jan-May is depicted below :
| Jan-May | Million pcs | Value (US$ billion) | Average Price (US$/pc) |
| 2011 | 176 | 1.379 | $7.83 |
| 2012 | 157.8 | 1.314 | $8.33 |
| Change | -10.4% | -4.7% | +6.37% |
On the other hand, we see that the denim fabric imports into US have increased in the same period by a significant number of about 23% .
| Jan-May | Million sq mtrs | Value ($ million) | Avg. Price (US$/ sq mtr) |
| 2011 | 11.37 | 36.82 | 3.23 |
| 2012 | 14 | 42.93 | 3.06 |
| Change | +23.4% | +16.6% | -5.25% |
It feel strange looking at such figures since fabric imports have been on a general decline for a long time and the jeans imports had been strong for about 7-8 years. The prices of jeans have been rising ever since the cotton prices rose and they still keep on rising . The major suppliers including China, Bangladesh have experienced increase in prices (source data section at Denimsandjeans.com )
The increase in denim fabric imports could be temporary , but it is still interesting to see that there is an effort to do more manufacturing in US or nearby countries (near sourcing). Another indication of this trend (as shown in tables below) is that one of the countries near US has gained significantly in terms of denim apparel exports to US even as others experienced serious falls.
It would be interesting to see where do which countries are losing in terms of jeans exports or which countries are gaining in terms of fabric imports into US. Lets see the analysis below in tables for :21.62
- Table showing the top 10 exporting countries in denim apparel and their respective loss or gains in volumes and values during the Jan – May 2011/2012 period.
- Table showing top gainers in fabric exports.
- Table showing Men’s vs women’s denim apparel – a comparison to understand which category contributed more to the fall.
– Our online Denim Show
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