To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, countries around the world have taken various restrictive measures that negatively affect international trade in goods. We can clearly state that these measures affect the textile industry.
As a result, apparel imports to the EU Member States decreased by 14% in value in 2020 compared to 2019, despite an upward trend over the last decade (24% increase since 2010). Thus, the EU imported 69 billion Euros worth of clothing from non-EU countries in 2020, while EU clothing exports to non-EU countries were worth 30 billion Euros in 2020. Compared to 2019, a decrease of 14% was recorded in exports. There has been a steady increase in the last ten years. Compared to 2010, there was an increase of 64%.
China is the Main Source of Imported Clothing
China is one country that imports the most textile products to the EU. Clothing imports from non-EU countries mainly come from China for 21 billion Euros, or 30% of total non-EU clothing, 12 billion Euros from Bangladesh, 1% and 9 billion Euros, and 12% from Turkey. It is followed by the UK at €4 billion, 6%, India and Vietnam at €3 billion each, 4%, and Cambodia at €2 billion, 4%.
Turkey’s Role in European Textiles
Turkey has an extremely important role in the textile products supplied to the European Union. 12% of the clothes imported from countries outside the European Union are supplied from Turkey. Turkey earns 9 billion Euros annually by exporting clothes. In this respect, we can mention that Turkey is the country that imports the most clothes to Europe after China and Bangladesh.
European Union countries spent approximately 154 billion Euros on textile products in 2019. More than half of these expenditures were made to countries that are not members of the European Union. In this direction, we can mention that the textile expenditures made to countries that are not members of the European Union are 80 billion Euros. This figure corresponds to 52% of the total expenditure.
Germany’s Largest Garment Importer
In 2020, around 17 billion Euros worth of clothing was imported by Germany from non-EU countries. This figure is 25% of the total non-EU garment imports by value. This makes Germany the largest EU apparel importer from non-EU countries, ahead of Spain (€10 billion, 15%) and France (almost €10 billion, 14%).
Italy, The Largest Exporter of Clothing
Among the EU Member States, Italy exported €10 billion worth of clothing to non-EU States in 2020. This is 33% of total non-EU apparel exports on a value basis). This makes Italy the largest non-EU garment exporter, ahead of Germany (€5 billion, 17%), Spain (€4 billion, 14%), and France (almost €4 billion, 13%).
Textile Export in the European Union.
European Union countries are major clothing exporters. However, we can mention that the export rate is extremely limited compared to the import rate. The two largest exporting countries are Germany and Italy. Italy realizes 34% of exports to countries that are not members of the European Union. Germany ranks second with 16%.
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