Market Research: Data Shows That Europe'S Clothing Imports From China Surged Last Year

In 2022, Asian suppliers will account for 75.8% of European clothing imports, which will remain stable compared with 2019. After the stagnation in 2020 and 2021, clothing imports from China, a major supplier, surged by 32% in one year, 7.7% higher than the level in 2019.

After two years of wandering, Bangladesh's import volume will increase by 52% year-on-year in 2022, 23.4% higher than that before the crisis. As one of the third largest suppliers in the EU, the import volume from Turkey has recovered to the level of 2019. The growth rate of the top 20 suppliers was double-digit, except for the UK, whose clothing exports to the EU continued to decline by 22% after falling by 63% in 2021.

Other Asia Pacific countries have seen significant growth, such as India (+36%), Vietnam (+51%), Pakistan (+43%), Cambodia (+5%), Sri Lanka (+228%), Indonesia (+39%) and Thailand (+27%). After two years of decline, Myanmar grew by 85% last year, 27.8% higher than 2019 (before the epidemic crisis and military coup). The value of goods exported by Morocco and Tunisia to Europe has increased by 20% and 25% respectively in the past year.

　　 EU clothing exports increased by 33.5% compared with 2019

In the international clothing market, the EU has exported 38.7 billion euros worth of goods. This means that this data has increased by 17% in one year, 33.5% higher than the level in 2019.

Switzerland is still the largest clothing customer in the EU. As in 2021 (the year when the UK market is accounted for separately), the UK will be the second largest customer of clothing exports in Europe in 2022, ahead of the United States, where orders will grow by 49% in 2022, and also ahead of China. Following the rapid growth in 2021, the order volume exported to China stagnated in 2022. South Korea followed China in the ranking, and its orders increased by 32% in one year.

It is worth noting that in 2019, Russia, the EU's third largest clothing customer, dropped to the ninth place in 2022, importing European clothing worth EUR 1.41 billion, a decline of 37% in one year, 42.7% lower than the level before the epidemic crisis. At the same time, Ukraine ranked 16th, with a year-on-year decrease of 24% in order volume, but similar to the level in 2019.

Among regions with strong growth in imports from Europe, Turkey's 89% growth is particularly prominent. In addition, orders from Singapore increased by 95%, those from Canada by 49%, those from Mexico by 48%, and those from the United Arab Emirates by 43%. At the same time, orders from Serbia increased by 41%. In 2022, Serbia will remain one of the top 20 customers of the EU.

　　 Focus on textile trade

Textile trade is more subtle, because epidemic masks belong to this category, and the change of global epidemic prevention situation will make the data of this item change greatly. According to the data, the textile import of Europe in 2022 is 25.6% higher than that in 2019, and China is still the largest supplier so far. The following suppliers are Turkey, Pakistan and India, with growth rates ranging from 14% to 37%. The fifth place is the UK, which will remain stable in 2022 after a decline of 18% in 2021.

The growth of suppliers from the United States (+37%), South Korea (+26%), Vietnam (+47%) and Japan (+27%) is also significant. In 2022, Bangladesh's export to the EU will be 39.6% higher than that in 2019. It is worth noting that Ukraine, which ranks 19th among EU suppliers in 2021, will have less exports than Australia in 2022, and Australia's export volume has recovered to the level of 2019.

In 2022, European textile exports will reach 28.6 billion euros, an increase of 13% within a year, slightly lower than the level in 2019. The United States, Britain, Turkey and China are the main customers of European textiles, followed by Morocco, Switzerland, Mexico (+87%) and Tunisia.

In 2022, Ukraine will rank sixth among EU customers, with orders rising by 6%, while Russia will fall from eighth to eleventh, with orders falling by 30% in one year. The United Arab Emirates rejoined the top 20. In the top 20, Egypt, Serbia (+24%) and India (+21%) also rose significantly.