Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine May'17 | Page 58

EXPORT STATISTICS EU maintains the stagnation in clothing imports in the first month of 2017 January 2017 The clothing sector of EU has undergone radical changes throughout the year 2016 and somehow, it could manage the balance to maintain its clothing demand. However, after frequent ups and downs, EU concluded the year 2016 on a positive note. Continuing the trend from December 2016, EU’s clothing imports have surged in the first month of 2017 which is mainly due to the continued holiday season. Projections for 2017 do not see long-term growth of clothing demand for EU because of large-scale redundancies in the economy as well as bankruptcies of fashion brands at a much higher rate this year. Global apparel imports by the European Union during January 2017 Total Increase in Quantity 1.21 % Total Increase in Value 4.13 % Percentage Increase in UVR 2.82 % Change in Knitted 2.43 % 2 During January 2017, imports of sweaters by EU registered growth of 8.28% in volumes, while value was up by 8.33%. During the month India, China, Bangladesh and Vietnam also registered positive export of sweaters to EU. Legwear, a growing export category to EU from China and India Exports of legwear by China registered noteworthy surge of 9.44% in value, whereas volumes were up by a marginal 0.20% year-on-year. India too noted gains of 11.37% in value and 32.07% in volume during review period. Apparel imports of the EU: Selected Countries (Qty in mn Kg & Value in mn Euro) Jan. 2016 Jan. 2017 % increase / decrease Country/Category Qty Value Qty Value Qty Value Knitted 212.20 3463.22 217.35 3676.27 2.43 6.15 Woven 175.95 3752.85 175.49 3837.80 -0.26 2.26 Total 388.14 7216.07 392.84 7514.07 1.21 4.13 Knitted 75.52 1186.52 75.22 1215.56 -0.40 2.45 Woven 76.28 1482.02 72.41 1449.78 -5.07 -2.18 151.80 2668.53 147.63 2665.34 -2.75 -0.12 Knitted 13.04 224.21 13.84 239.41 6.19 6.78 Woven 8.00 217.19 8.15 215.85 1.90 -0.61 21.04 441.40 22.00 455.26 4.56 3.14 Knitted 55.43 689.87 56.69 764.73 2.28 10.85 Woven 33.68 541.92 34.80 581.99 3.34 7.39 Total 89.10 1231.79 91.49 1346.72 2.68 9.33 Knitted 4.09 82.89 3.88 81.79 -5.07 -1.32 Woven 2.21 51.81 2.11 53.69 -4.48 3.63 Total 6.30 134.70 5.99 135.48 -4.86 0.58 WORLD Average UVR in January 2017 was Euro 19.13 per kg of fabric equivalent Quantity 1 EU’s imports soar in sweaters category Value 6.1