Japan's clothing imports rise 6.8% to $12.1 bn in H1 2025

Imports of textile yarn and fabric edged up by 1.3 per cent to 569,232 million yen, representing 1 per cent of total imports.

Meanwhile, Japan’s exports of textile yarn and fabric rose by 2.5 per cent to 413,252 million yen during the same period. Exports of textile machinery increased by 11.9 per cent to 143,361 million yen, contributing 0.3 per cent to total exports, which reached 53,362,180 million yen in the first half of the current year.

For the latest month, June 2025, for which trade data has been released, the country’s imports of clothing and accessories rose by 6.2 per cent to 257,672 million yen (~$1.735 billion), accounting for 2.9 per cent of Japan’s total imports of 9,009,513 million yen. Imports of textile yarn and fabric declined by 0.5 per cent to 91,951 million yen, representing 1 per cent of total imports.

Japan’s exports of textile yarn and fabric fell by 4.6 per cent to 70,100 million yen during the same month. However, exports of textile machinery increased by 9.4 per cent to 20,942 million yen, contributing 0.2 per cent to total exports, which stood at 9,162,577 million yen in June 2025.

In fiscal 2024–25 (April–March), imports of clothing and accessories rose by 5.2 per cent to 3,764,657 million yen (~$26.440 billion), while imports of textile yarn and fabric increased by 2.7 per cent to 1,174,598 million yen.

Exports of textile yarn and fabric during the fiscal grew by 6 per cent to 850,139 million yen, whereas textile machinery exports declined by 12.6 per cent to 280,408 million yen.

In fiscal 2023–24, imports of clothing and accessories declined by 1.7 per cent to 3,564,850 million yen (~$23.107 billion), and imports of textile yarn and fabric fell by 10.4 per cent to 1,143,805 million yen. During the same period, exports of textile yarn and fabric stood at 802,178 million yen, while textile machinery exports totalled 320,947 million yen.

In fiscal 2022–23, imports of clothing and accessories amounted to 3,619,550 million yen (~$25.05 billion), while textile machinery exports reached 306,781 million yen.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)