There was no sigh of relief for the European Union (EU)’s apparel imports during the January to May ’17 period.
EU declined by 1.05 per cent in its volume-wise apparel imports including a drop by 0.78 per cent in knitted segment and 1.39 per cent in woven segment, on Y-o-Y basis.
In value terms of apparel imports, EU surged by 1.03 per cent on the yearly note. Knitted segment saw a rise of 1.85 per cent, whereas woven segment was up by 0.28 per cent. The rise shows EU is spending more values for the imported products.
The unit prices are also skyrocketing which can again be termed as a serious issue for the already troubled clothing industry of the Union. During the said period, Unit Value Realisation (UVR) was € 18.55 per kg of the garments, up 2.09 per cent against the same period last year.
Major apparel exporters including China, India and Bangladesh were down in their volume-wise apparel exports to EU. The countries’ exports tumbled by 1.18 per cent, 1.22 per cent and 0.17 per cent respectively.
Amidst falling export, Bangladesh still witnessed an increase in the exported value by 4.25 per cent during the period. The weak Euro for the second largest apparel exporter in the world proved to be the main factor behind the rising export value.
The statistics indicate that the clothing demand in EU is declining continuously. Consumer trends are shifting from store purchasing to digital shopping further indicating the possible suffering of the retail stores during the remaining part of the year.