United States Of America: New Surge In Apparel Imports In December

US apparel imports boomed in December with a 28.68% rise in volume terms compared with the same month of 2001. Shipments from China were up 164% after increasing by 120% in November. China now ranks first before Mexico, Honduras and all other apparel supplying countries.

China's apparel exports to the United States incredibly surged in the last month of 2002, at 158 million square meter equivalents (SMEs). By comparison, they were only 60 million in December 2001.

Imports from Mexico rose from 150 million SMEs up to 158 million, a poor 6.88% increase.

As a result, China had 11.30% of all US apparel imports in December while Mexico only retained 10.72%.