Apparel exports spike in August; turn YTD positive

Showing signs of recovery, apparel exports saw a spike in August, enabling the industry to make the year to date performance positive for the first time.

In August, exports rose by 22.13% year-on-year to $ 485.62 million, and the first eight months’ performance by 2.41% to $ 3.158 billion. 

In July, apparel exports rose by 3.2% to $ 406.2 million, and the first seven months amounted to $ 2.612 billion, down by 0.7%.

According to Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) sources, exports to the USA saw a 22.9% increase to $ 209.40 million, whilst exports to the EU (excluding exports to the UK) rose by 18.84% to $ 140.51 million. Shipments to the UK increased by 17.74% to $ 62.39 million. 

Exports to other markets rose by 31% to $ 73.32 million.

January to August cumulative exports to the US rose by 1.82% to $ 1.26 billion. Exports to the EU (excluding exports to the UK) remained down by 1.16% to $ 914.71 million. Exports to the UK have increased by 8.46% to $ 462.43 million and to other countries by 5.36% to $ 513.93 million.

Though August shows a strong recovery, the performance lags behind the record $ 535 million achieved in the same month of 2022 and $ 449 million in 2021. Last year, apparel exports were down by 19% to $ 4.4 billion from $ 5.48 billion in 2022.