During the first four months of 2023, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Cambodia emerged as the leading suppliers of apparel to Japan, contributing to 83.87 per cent of the total import value of US $ 7.883 billion.
While imports from China and Bangladesh have declined, Vietnam and Myanmar witnessed an increase even as Cambodia also maintained a positive trend.
China accounted for US $ 4.056 billion, representing 51.45 per cent of total imports, marking a 2.91 per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2022. This follows a 7.41 per cent decline observed between the corresponding periods of 2021 and 2022.
Japan’s apparel imports from Bangladesh experienced a decrease of 2.28 per cent, falling from US $ 471.090 million in January-April 2022 to US $ 460.368 million in the corresponding period of 2023.
Despite this decline, Bangladesh retained its position as the third-largest supplier, contributing to 5.84 per cent of the trade.
Vietnam emerged as the second-largest supplier, accounting for 15.77 per cent of the total imports from January to April 2023.
During the period of January to April 2023, Vietnam emerged as the second-largest supplier to Japan, contributing 15.77 per cent to the total imports. Import figures from Vietnam witnessed a significant surge of 15.45 per cent, reaching $1,243.629 million, compared to $1,077.170 million in the corresponding period of 2022. Notably, the import value had previously reached $1,185.232 million during the same period in 2021.
Myanmar’s exports to Japan experienced an impressive 37.32 per cent growth, contributing US $ 448.794 million to Japan’s apparel imports in the first four months of 2023. This marked a significant increase from the US $ 326.829 million worth of imports in the same period in 2022, which had already grown by 23.09 per cent from US $ 265.524 million in January-April 2021.
Myanmar held the fourth position among suppliers, accounting for 5.69 per cent of Japan’s total apparel imports. In the same period, Cambodia supplied apparel imports worth US $ 403.998 million, making up 5.12 per cent of the total, and ranked as the fifth largest supplier, with a 1.5 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
