Report Footwear

Consumer spending in U.S. clothing and footwear fell 1.1% in 2008 and has continued to decline in the first half of 2009 that the recession is. Reflecting the downturn, there was a fall of 10.6% of the volume of U.S. textile and apparel imports during the first seven months of 2009. Exports have fallen too, as demand on foreign markets weakened. In textiles, exports fell by 24.1% while shipments to the United States the two largest markets, Canada and Mexico, fell sharply. In clothing, exports fell 6.8%, again due to lower sales in Canada and Mexico, while shipments to Japan and Saudi Arabia has sharply increased. In consequence of these trends, the U.S. textile and apparel production has decreased significantly in the first months of 2009. Employment has also been hit and 15.0% less in September 2009 than the previous year.

In Argentina, textile production rose 1.5% in 2008, but fell 13.2% in the first half of 2009. overseas sales followed roughly the same pattern. In 2008, exports of textiles and clothing rose 4.9%, but in the first quarter of 2009, they fell by 38.0%.

The industry in Brazil suffered the same fate as the textile and garment exports dropped by 23.3% during the first seven months of 2009 after rising 2.6% in 2008. textile production has declined over the first four months of 2009 and the clothing has further deteriorated.

In Colombia, the textile industry has done much better than clothing. Although export growth has slowed, sales of textiles increased by 25.8% in the first half of 2009. But apparel exports fell by 54.5%, after being swept by a fall in demand for clothing Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, the United States and Venezuela.

In Mexico, the industry continued to struggle as U.S. importers changed the order of China and other Asian countries at low cost. In the first half of 2009 alone, Mexican exports of textiles and clothing fell by 17.5% after falling 6.2% in 2008.

ABSTRACT
USA
Consumer demand
retail
Imports
Imports of textiles and apparel products
Imports of textiles and apparel supplier country
Production
Employment
Plant closings
Anti-dumping and countervailing measures
Exports
ARGENTINE
Exports of textiles and clothing: 2008
Exports of textiles and apparel products
Imports of textiles and clothing: the first quarter of 2009
Exports of textiles and clothing by major destination
Domestic textile and clothing retail sales
Textile production
Trade policy
Imports of textiles and clothing: 2008
BRAZIL
Exports of textiles and clothing: 2008
Exports of textiles and apparel products
Exports of textiles and clothing by major destination
Exports of textiles and clothing: January-July 2009
Textile and clothing
Domestic textile and clothing retail sales
Employment
Imports of textiles and clothing
Imports of textiles and apparel products
Imports of textiles and clothing by the major supplier
Trade policy
COLOMBIA
Exports of textiles and clothing: 2008
Exports of textiles and clothing: the first half of 2009
Exports of textiles and apparel products
Exports of textiles and clothing by major destination
Imports of textiles and clothing
Imports of textiles and clothing from major suppliers
Textile and clothing
Trade policy
MEXICO
Exports of textiles and clothing
Exports of textiles and apparel products
Exports of textiles and clothing by major destination
Textile and clothing
Trade policy
List of Tables
Table 1: USA: leading suppliers of imports of textiles and clothing by volume, 2005-2009