The European Union (EU) dwindled both volume-wise and value-wise in its apparel imports during January-March 2020 period. The imports fell in the aftermath of the COVID-19 in Europe.
EU imported € 19.58 billion worth of garments in the first quarter of 2020, falling by 11.46 per cent on the yearly note. While the import volumes plunged by 12.69 per cent, the unit values (per kg of the garments) escalated by 1.41 per cent to € 18.72.
The Chinese shipment to EU tumbled by18.69 per cent in Q1 ’20 and clocked € 5.16 billion revenue. Volume-wise, China exported 282.52 million kg of garments to EU only to see 20.81 per cent downfall on Y-o-Y basis.
Unit values of the Chinese shipment surged by 2.69 per cent and stood at € 18.27 in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period.
Bangladesh’s fall in its apparel shipment to EU was comparatively less. The country exported € 4.27 billion worth of garments to EU, noting 10.63 per cent fall, while volumes declined by 10.33 per cent in Q1 ’20.
Interestingly, Bangladesh stayed ahead of China in terms of values of knitted garment exports to EU. Chinese export in knitted segment was € 2.34 billion (down 16.75 per cent), while Bangladesh was marginally ahead with € 2.37 billion (down 9.11 per cent) worth of shipment.
In woven clothing, China was far ahead of Bangladesh with € 2.81 billion (down 20.23 per cent) worth of shipment to EU, while latter could manage to ship just € 1.90 billion (down 12.46 per cent) worth of woven garments to its largest export destination.
Turkey’s growth too decelerated by 11.02 per cent in shipment values and 12.41 per cent in volumes. The country shipped 98 million kg of garments to EU worth € 2.311 billion.
India and Vietnam too noted fall in their respective apparel exports to EU. Vietnam plunged substantially by 11.35 per cent to clock € 780.82 million from its RMG shipment to EU, while volumes shipment stood at just 30.61 million kg in Q1 ’20, falling 12.65 per cent from a year earlier.
India’s fall was significant both in volumes (down 18.39 per cent) and values (down 19.77 per cent). The country shipped 57.49 million kg of garments to EU in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period worth € 1.18 billion.
The major fall was reported in the month of March when EU declined by 19.20 per cent in volume terms due to drastic fall in the Chinese shipment. The import values also fell by 21.40 per cent, while UVR reduced by 2.60 per cent.
Chinese shipments tumbled by 33.20 per cent in volume terms in March on Y-o-Y, while the values were down by 28.47 per cent. The fall in shipments from rest of the world was much lower to that of China both in volumes (down 14.86 per cent) and in values (down 19.37 per cent) in the month of March.
April data is likely to reflect further collapse in EU’s import of clothing as the European countries were under lockdown after the massive spread of COVID-19.
