According to the latest data published by the US Department of Commerce, imports of textiles and apparel rose during May by 9.3% from the previous month, to 4.797 billion square metre equivalents (SME). This was also 3.3% higher than the comparable figure in 2012.

Cumulative imports during the first five months of 2013 increased to 22.136 billion SMEs, 3.78% higher than the year-earlier total (see accompanying table). The increase was mainly attributable to higher apparel shipments, which rose by 6.77% versus a year earlier. Textiles imports increased by only 1.6%. Perhaps one of the more noteworthy aspects of the data is the slight downturn in textile imports from China.