Vietnam narrows gap with China in US apparel market

China's share has drastically reduced, primarily due to the trade war with the US and the pandemic.

According to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro, the US imported apparel worth $3.780 billion from China and $3.451 billion from Vietnam in the first quarter of this year. Total apparel imports to the US amounted to $18.943 billion in this period. In comparison, during the first quarter of 2023, US apparel imports from China were valued at $3.726 billion, and from Vietnam, $3.391 billion, accounting for 18.42 per cent and 16.77 per cent of the market, respectively. The total imports in January-March 2023 were valued at $20.225 billion.

Last year, the US imported apparel worth $81.552 billion in total. Of this, $17.810 billion (21.84 per cent) came from China, and $14.424 billion (17.69 per cent) from Vietnam.

The trade data shows that Vietnam’s share came closer to China's in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year. Vietnam’s share increased to 18.22 per cent in Q1 2024, up from 16.77 per cent in Q1 2023. Meanwhile, China’s share grew to 19.95 per cent from 18.42 per cent, although it shrank from 21.84 per cent over the entire year of 2023.

An analysis of data procured from TexPro shows a consistent rise in Vietnam's share since 2019, when the US imported $13.857 billion worth of apparel from Vietnam, representing 15.87 per cent of its total imports of $87.327 billion. Vietnam’s share grew to 18.55 per cent out of the US' total apparel imports of $71.068 billion in 2020. However, it decreased to 17.29 per cent in 2021 when the US imported $87.172 billion worth of apparel. After that, its share increased to 17.93 per cent out of a total import of $105.247 billion in 2022.

On the other hand, China’s share was noted at 30.26 per cent in 2019. It fell to 27.50 per cent in 2020, 25.22 per cent in 2021, and 22.49 per cent in 2022.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)