STATISTICS Textiles and Clothing

After more than forty years of trade with import quotas, the textiles and clothing sector eventually be-came subject to the general rules of the WTO from January 1, 2005. Protection of the textile and clothing sector has a long history. In 1962, a Long-term Agreement regarding International Trade in Cotton Textiles (LTA) was signed under the auspices of GATT. The LTA was renegotiated several times until it was replaced by the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) which came into force in 1974. The MFA was negotiated four times and it finally expired in 1994. The expiration of the MFA did not, however, mean the end of the quotas. With the establishment of the WTO in 1995, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) was negotiated as a transitory regime to the full integration of textiles and clothing into the multi-lateral trading system. Four countries had been restricting their imports of textiles and clothing (Canada, the EU, Norway and the United States). The integration took place in four steps over a ten year period, ending on 31 December 2004.

Since the beginning of 2005, imports from previously restricted suppliers increased sharply in the US and the EU. The import increases have been particularly strong from China which led to the imposition of new limitations on Chinese textiles and clothing exports to the United States and the EU. The legal basis for this new selective quantitative restrictions on Chinese exports are in the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China which is annexed to China's Protocol of Accession to the WTO.

Leading exporters and importers of textiles, 2004

(Billion dollars and percentage)

		Share in world
	Value	exports/imports				Annual percentage change
	2004	1980	1990	2000	2004	2000-04	2002	2003	2004
Exporters
European Union (25)	71.29	-	-	36.5	36.6	6	3	14	10
extra-EU (25) exports	24.31	-	-	11.2	12.5	9	5	15	15
China a, b	33.43	4.6	6.9	10.4	17.2	20	22	31	24
Hong Kong, China	14.30	-	-	-	-	2	2	5	9
domestic exports	0.68	1.7	2.1	0.8	0.4	-13	-7	-23	-10
re-exports	13.61	-	-	-	-	3	3	8	10
United States	11.99	6.8	4.8	7.1	6.2	2	2	2	10
Korea, Republic of	10.84	4.0	5.8	8.2	5.6	-4	0	-2	1
Taipei, Chinese	10.04	3.2	5.9	7.7	5.2	-4	-4	-2	8
Japan	7.14	9.3	5.6	4.5	3.7	0	-3	7	11
India c	6.85	2.4	2.1	3.9	4.0	6	12	14	...
Turkey	6.43	0.6	1.4	2.4	3.3	15	8	24	22
Pakistan	6.12	1.6	2.6	2.9	3.1	8	6	21	5
Indonesia	3.15	0.1	1.2	2.3	1.6	-3	-10	1	8
Thailand d	2.63	0.6	0.9	1.3	1.3	8	1	14	21
Canada	2.43	0.6	0.7	1.4	1.2	2	1	4	7
Mexico a, d	2.24	0.2	0.7	1.7	1.1	-3	6	-5	7
Switzerland	1.60	2.8	2.5	1.0	0.8	2	-2	6	7
Above 15	176.85	-	-	92.1	91.3	-	-	-	-
Importers
European Union (25)	67.97	-	-	33.8	33.0	5	2	14	9
extra-EU (25) imports	20.99	-	-	9.9	10.2	7	0	15	14
United States	20.66	4.5	6.2	9.8	10.0	7	10	8	13
China a, b	15.30	1.9	4.9	7.8	7.4	5	4	9	8
Hong Kong, China	14.11	-	-	-	-	1	-1	7	9
retained imports	0.50	3.7	3.8	0.9	0.2	-23	-39	-4	-17
Mexico a, d, e	5.79	0.2	0.9	3.6	2.8	0	3	-2	6
Japan	5.60	2.9	3.8	3.0	2.7	3	-5	11	11
Turkey	4.17	0.1	0.5	1.3	2.0	18	48	21	21
Canada e	4.11	2.3	2.2	2.5	2.0	0	0	1	7
Korea, Republic of	3.38	0.7	1.8	2.1	1.6	0	6	-3	8
Viet Nam d	3.35	...	...	0.8	1.6	25	60	35	20
Romania	3.33	...	0.1	1.0	1.6	18	18	21	16
United Arab Emirates c	2.15	0.8	0.9	1.3	1.2	...	9	6	...
Russian Federation d	2.10	-	-	0.8	1.0	14	3	24	14
Australia e	1.83	2.0	1.3	1.0	0.9	3	13	13	10
Thailand d	1.81	0.3	0.8	1.0	0.9	3	3	3	11
Above 15	142.06	-	-	70.7	69.1	-	-	-	-

a   Includes significant shipments through processing zones.
b   In 2004, Chinareported imports of textiles from Chinaamounting to nearly $2 billion.
c   2003 instead of 2004.
d   Includes Secretariat estimates.
e   Imports are valued f.o.b.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Textile exports of selected economies, 1990-04

(Million dollars and percentage)

								Share in economy's total merchandise exports
	Value							Share in economy's total merchandise exports
	1990		2000		2002	2003	2004		2000	2004 a
World	104354	d	154571		154304	172470	194732		2.5	2.2
Argentina	158		257		190	154	198		1.0	0.6
Australia	152		347		283	309	328		0.6	0.3
Bangladesh	343		355		443	476	388		5.6	4.8
Belarus	-		410		381	449	514		5.6	3.7
Brazil	769		897		841	1106	1244		1.6	1.3
Bulgaria			119		180	243	310		2.5	3.1
Canada	687		2204		2181	2264	2431		0.8	0.8
Chile	33		114		83	87	109		0.6	0.3
China b	7219		16135		20562	26900	33428		6.5	5.6
Colombia c	133		268		205	228	240		2.1	1.5
Croatia	-		87		82	111	118		2.0	1.5
Egypt c	554		323		251	278	298		6.9	3.9
El Salvador b, c	38		79		70	72	77		2.7	2.3
European Union (25)	-		56456		57040	64907	71287		2.3	1.9
intra-EU (25) exports	-		39184		38557	43720	46980		2.4	1.9
extra-EU (25) exports	-		17272		18483	21187	24307		2.2	2.0
Hong Kong, China	8213		13441		12422	13087	14296		6.6	5.4
domestic exports	2171		1176		980	757	684		5.0	3.4
re-exports	6042		12265		11441	12330	13612		6.8	5.5
India	2180		5998		6028	6846	...		13.3	10.9
Indonesia	1241		3505		2896	2923	3152		5.4	4.4
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	510		766		726	800	...		2.7	2.4
Israel	270		490		538	606	683		1.6	1.8
Japan	5871		7023		6030	6431	7138		1.5	1.3
Korea, Republic of	6076		12710		10945	10779	10839		7.4	4.3
Macao, China	136		272		326	303	313		10.7	11.1
Malaysia b	343		1270		994	1017	1227		1.3	1.0
Mauritius	36		81		68	77	83		5.2	4.2
Mexico b, c	713		2571		2210	2096	2237		1.5	1.2
Morocco b	203	d	123		139	129	147		1.7	1.5
Nepal	82		182		...	107	...		22.7	16.2
New Zealand	135		142		169	222	252		1.1	1.2
Pakistan	2663		4532		4790	5811	6125		50.2	45.8
Peru	221		128		103	119	149		1.8	1.2
Philippines b, c	132		297		249	270	288		0.7	0.7
Romania	125		...		310	444	562			2.4
Russian Federation c	-		439		431	554	695		0.4	0.4
Singapore	903		907		738	706	698		0.7	0.4
domestic exports	141		293		313	288	281		0.4	0.3
re-exports	762		614		425	418	417		1.0	0.5
South Africa	167		240	d	248	298	301		0.8	0.7
Sri Lanka c	25		244		171	161	157		4.5	2.7
Switzerland	2557		1503		1421	1499	1604		1.9	1.4
Syrian Arab Republic	555		158		168	241	...		3.4	4.2
Taipei, Chinese	6128		11891		9531	9303	10038		8.0	5.8
Tanzania	...		11		14	20	38		1.7	2.6
Thailand c	928		1960		1897	2161	2625		2.8	2.7
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	...		37		36	42	53		2.8	3.2
Tunisia	112		154		227	268	323		2.6	3.3
Turkey	1440		3672		4244	5262	6428		13.2	10.2
Ukraine c	-		127		158	205	225		0.9	0.7
United States	5039		10952		10664	10886	11989		1.4	1.5
Uruguay	85		65		41	53	63		2.8	2.1
Viet Nam	...		598		848	...	...		4.1	5.1

a   Or nearest year.
b   Includes significant exports from processing zones.
c   Includes Secretariat estimates.
d   Break in time series.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Textile imports of selected economies, 1990-04

(Million dollars and percentage)

							Share in economy's total merchandise imports
	Value						Share in economy's total merchandise imports
	1990		2000	2002	2003	2004	2000	2004 a
Argentina	53		619	170	454	585	2.5	2.6
Australia b	1442		1632	1472	1662	1828	2.3	1.7
Bahrain	71		176	188	152	161	3.8	2.4
Bangladesh	452		1140	1387	1405	1471	12.8	12.2
Belarus	-		256	266	322	403	3.0	2.5
Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela b	112		286	185	138	365	1.8	2.4
Brazil	252		1110	851	810	1084	1.9	1.6
Bulgaria	...		506	722	956	1105	7.8	7.6
Cambodia	...		432	643	713	867	30.0	42.0
Canada b	2325		4126	3803	3849	4115	1.7	1.5
Chile	203		431	355	359	421	2.3	1.7
China c	5292		12832	13060	14217	15304	5.7	2.7
Colombia	75		558	522	548	685	4.8	4.1
Costa Rica c, d	83	e	165	180	188	203	2.6	2.5
Croatia	-		249	370	428	453	3.2	2.7
Ecuador	22		113	127	122	159	3.0	2.0
Egypt d	211		206	190	206	274	1.5	2.1
El Salvador c, d	111		364	388	423	481	7.4	7.7
European Union (25)	-		55264	54430	62236	67972	2.2	1.8
extra-EU (25) imports	-		16224	15953	18378	20992	1.8	1.6
Hong Kong, China	10182		13716	12065	12931	14110	6.4	5.2
retained imports	4140		1451	623	601	498	4.2	1.8
India	240		575	896	1110	...	1.1	1.4
Indonesia	785		1251	878	663	739	2.9	1.3
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	...		298	239	317	...	2.1	1.2
Israel	474		759	641	658	761	2.1	1.9
Japan	4133		4935	4532	5031	5599	1.3	1.2
Jordan	107		172	381	471	646	3.7	7.9
Korea, Republic of	1947		3359	3239	3131	3385	2.1	1.5
Kuwait	168		212	...	...	...	3.0	2.6
Lebanon	...		178	189	181	...	2.9	2.5
Macao, China	619		902	801	770	799	40.0	23.0
Malaysia c	951		1114	917	839	967	1.4	0.9
Mauritius c	350		411	348	358	335	19.6	12.1
Mexico b, c, d	992		5822	5571	5458	5790	3.3	2.9
Morocco c	361	e	1364	1483	1710	1797	11.8	10.2
Nepal d	42		138	...	142	...	8.8	8.1
New Zealand	396		369	376	430	473	2.7	2.0
Norway	554		509	535	596	657	1.5	1.4
Pakistan	126		130	191	255	310	1.2	1.7
Peru	17		165	198	207	264	2.2	2.6
Philippines c, d	910		1250	1093	1070	1136	3.4	2.7
Romania	67		1715	2370	2871	3329	13.1	10.2
Russian Federation d	-		1248	1482	1833	2099	2.8	2.2
Saudi Arabia	1312		986	1001	1053	...	3.3	2.8
Serbia and Montenegro d	-		284	424	468	...	7.7	5.9
Singapore	1778		1275	1026	1006	1014	0.9	0.6
retained imports	1016		661	601	588	597	0.9	0.7
South Africa b	561	e	570	534	640	821	2.1	1.7
Sri Lanka	412		1483	1317	1380	1534	20.7	19.2
Switzerland	1849		1326	1287	1464	1615	1.6	1.4
Syrian Arab Republic	168		399	252	341	337	10.5	5.4
Taipei, Chinese	1013		1460	1164	1181	1251	1.0	0.8
Thailand d	898		1630	1576	1629	1807	2.6	1.9
Tunisia	790		1207	1425	1496	1654	14.1	13.0
Turkey	567		2124	2839	3441	4170	3.9	4.3
Ukraine d	-		450	516	643	741	3.2	2.6
United Arab Emirates d	983		2055	2000	2147	...	7.7	5.4
United States	6730		15985	16953	18251	20662	1.3	1.4
Viet Nam d	...		1379	2071	2795	3354	8.8	10.8

a   Or nearest year.
b   Imports are valued f.o.b.
c   Includes significant imports into processing zones.
d   Includes Secretariat estimates.
e   Break in time series.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Leading exporters and importers of clothing, 2004

(Billion dollars and percentage)

		Share in world
	Value	exports/imports				Annual percentage change
	2004	1980	1990	2000	2004	2000-04	2002	2003	2004
Exporters
European Union (25)	74.92	-	-	27.0	29.0	9	6	18	9
extra-EU (25) exports	19.13	-	-	6.9	7.4	9	4	13	11
China a	61.86	4.0	8.9	18.3	24.0	14	13	26	19
Hong Kong, China	25.10	-	-	-	-	1	-4	3	8
domestic exports	8.14	11.5	8.6	5.0	3.2	-5	-10	-2	-1
re-exports	16.96	-	-	-	-	4	-1	6	13
Turkey	11.19	0.3	3.1	3.3	4.3	14	21	24	12
Mexico a, b	7.20	0.0	0.5	4.4	2.8	-4	-3	-5	-2
India c	6.62	1.7	2.3	3.1	2.8	7	10	10	...
United States	5.06	3.1	2.4	4.4	2.0	-12	-14	-8	-9
Romania	4.72	...	0.3	1.2	1.8	19	17	25	16
Indonesia	4.45	0.2	1.5	2.4	1.7	-2	-13	4	8
Bangladesh	4.44	0.0	0.6	2.0	1.7	3	-7	13	0
Thailand b	4.05	0.7	2.6	1.9	1.6	1	0	1	12
Viet Nam b	3.98	...	...	0.9	1.5	22	41	35	12
Korea, Republic of	3.39	7.3	7.3	2.5	1.3	-9	-8	-8	-7
Tunisia	3.27	0.8	1.0	1.1	1.3	10	4	1	20
Pakistan	3.03	0.3	0.9	1.1	1.2	9	4	22	12
Above 15	206.32	-	-	78.6	80.3	-	-	-	-
Importers
European Union (25)	121.66	-	-	39.9	45.0	10	7	19	14
extra-EU (25) imports	65.86	-	-	20.9	24.4	11	7	20	15
United States	75.73	16.4	24.0	32.4	28.0	3	1	7	6
Japan	21.69	3.6	7.8	9.5	8.0	2	-8	11	11
Hong Kong, China	17.13	1.6	6.2	7.7	6.3	2	-2	2	7
retained imports	0.17	0.9	0.7	0.8	0.1	-44	-16	-38	-83
Russian Federation b	5.46	-	-	1.3	2.0	19	27	25	13
Canada d	5.22	1.7	2.1	1.8	1.9	9	2	12	16
Switzerland	4.34	3.4	3.1	1.5	1.6	8	7	15	9
Korea, Republic of	2.75	0.0	0.1	0.6	1.0	20	38	13	8
Australia d	2.67	0.8	0.6	0.9	1.0	9	11	20	22
Mexico a, b, d	2.58	0.3	0.5	1.7	1.0	-8	-5	-9	-15
Singapore	2.06	0.3	0.8	0.9	0.8	2	7	8	6
retained imports	0.56	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0	18	-7	12
United Arab Emirates b, c	2.05	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.8	...	15	15	...
Norway	1.67	1.7	1.1	0.6	0.6	7	10	13	8
China a	1.54	0.1	0.0	0.6	0.6	7	6	5	8
Saudi Arabia c	1.03	1.6	0.7	0.4	0.4	...	6	13	...
Above 15	250.61	-	-	93.7	93.0	-	-	-	-

a   Includes significant shipments through processing zones.
b   Includes Secretariat estimates
c   2003 instead of 2004.
d   Imports are valued f.o.b.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Clothing exports of selected economies, 1990-04

(Million dollars and percentage)

	Value						Share in economy's total merchandise exports
	1990		2000	2002	2003	2004	2000	2004 a
World	108129	d	197413	203038	232488	258097	3.1	2.9
Albania	...		97	120	153	196	37.1	32.9
Bahrain	21		261	375	206	177	4.2	2.4
Bangladesh	643		3907	3947	4461	4442	61.2	54.5
Belarus	-		262	292	341	401	3.6	2.9
Brazil	247		282	221	296	350	0.5	0.4
Brunei Darussalam	10		...	207	218	...	...	5.3
Bulgaria	...		701	1092	1500	1753	14.5	17.7
Cambodia	...		970	1313	1600	1981	69.8	70.8
Canada	328		2077	1989	1966	1995	0.8	0.6
China b	9669		36071	41302	52061	61856	14.5	10.4
Colombia	460		520	523	637	868	4.0	5.4
Costa Rica b, c	54	d	385	397	302	263	6.6	4.2
Croatia	-		469	511	595	631	10.6	7.9
Dominican Republic b, c	782		2868	2366	2278	2262	50.0	39.3
Egypt c	144		243	208	233	284	5.2	3.7
El Salvador b, c	184		1673	1841	1964	2083	56.9	63.2
European Union (25)	-		53273	57958	68455	74921	2.2	2.0
intra-EU (25) exports	-		39729	42785	51249	55793	2.4	2.2
extra-EU (25) exports	-		13544	15173	17206	19128	1.7	1.6
Fiji	80		156	106	135	146	26.7	21.5
Honduras c	64		472	475	510	551	34.5	35.8
Hong Kong, China	15406		24214	22430	23158	25097	11.9	9.5
domestic exports	9266		9935	8338	8202	8138	42.2	40.7
re-exports	6140		14279	14091	14956	16960	8.0	6.9
India	2530		6178	6037	6625	...	13.7	10.5
Indonesia	1646		4734	3945	4105	4454	7.2	6.2
Israel	482		729	549	485	525	2.3	1.4
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	...		125	183	228	...	0.4	0.7
Jordan	11		115	520	683	1017	6.1	25.7
Korea, Republic of	7879		5027	3962	3640	3391	2.9	1.3
Lesotho	...		261	234	290	335	77.7	46.1
Macao, China	1111		1849	1648	1834	1952	72.8	69.4
Malaysia b	1315		2257	2000	2057	2326	2.3	1.8
Mauritius	619		948	949	980	939	60.9	46.9
Mexico b, c	587		8631	7751	7343	7197	5.2	3.8
Moldova	-		76	98	119	157	16.0	15.9
Morocco	722	d	2401	2437	2847	3020	32.3	30.9
Nepal	50		209	...	226	...	26.0	34.1
Pakistan	1014		2144	2228	2710	3026	23.8	22.6
Peru	120		504	530	653	883	7.2	7.0
Philippines b, c	1733		2536	2611	2250	2270	6.4	5.7
Romania	363		2328	3251	4069	4717	22.5	20.1
Russian Federation c	-		460	538	673	535	0.4	0.3
Serbia and Montenegro c	-		130	158	176	...	7.6	6.6
Singapore	1588		1825	1653	1798	1822	1.3	1.0
domestic exports	995		504	386	356	324	0.6	0.3
re-exports	593		1321	1267	1442	1498	2.2	1.8
South Africa	85	d	218	256	310	257	0.7	0.6
Sri Lanka c	638		2812	2350	2513	2763	51.8	48.0
Switzerland	686		607	763	1113	1257	0.8	1.1
Taipei, Chinese	3987		3015	2187	2102	1951	2.0	1.1
Thailand c	2817		3757	3571	3615	4050	5.4	4.2
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	-		318	334	409	478	24.1	28.8
Tunisia	1126		2227	2696	2722	3268	38.1	33.7
Turkey	3331		6533	8057	9962	11193	23.5	17.7
Ukraine c	-		417	503	568	671	2.9	2.1
United States	2565		8629	6032	5537	5059	1.1	0.6
Uruguay	153		103	50	60	68	4.5	2.3
Viet Nam c	...		1821	2633	3555	3982	12.6	15.5

a   Or nearest year.
b   Includes significant exports from processing zones.
c   Includes Secretariat estimates.
d   Break in time series.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Clothing imports of selected economies, 1990-04

(Million dollars and percentage)

							Share in economy's total merchandise exports
	Value						Share in economy's total merchandise exports
	1990		2000	2002	2003	2004	2000	2004 a
Albania	...		68	98	126	143	6.3	6.3
Argentina	6		316	57	70	119	1.3	0.5
Australia b	711		1858	1819	2190	2667	2.6	2.5
Bangladesh	14		185	182	...	130	2.1	1.1
Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela b	101		390	247	125	226	2.4	1.5
Brazil	59		185	153	154	215	0.3	0.3
Bulgaria	...		179	327	455	491	2.8	3.4
Canada b	2388		3690	4013	4501	5223	1.5	1.9
Chile	52		501	488	502	666	2.7	2.7
China c	48		1192	1356	1422	1542	0.5	0.3
Costa Rica c, d	17	e	308	265	203	179	4.8	2.2
Croatia	-		278	251	331	378	3.5	2.3
Ecuador	1		23	64	80	121	0.6	1.5
El Salvador c, d	171		569	645	690	554	11.5	8.8
European Union (25)	-		82699	89519	106865	121656	3.2	3.2
extra-EU (25) imports	-		43305	47446	57103	65863	4.7	5.1
Hong Kong, China	6913		16008	15701	15950	17129	7.5	6.3
retained imports	773		1728	1609	994	170	5.0	0.6
Iceland	75		88	78	104	117	3.4	3.3
India	2		26	30	45	...	0.1	0.1
Indonesia	16		39	42	27	54	0.1	0.1
Israel	61		471	541	541	625	1.3	1.5
Japan	8765		19709	17601	19485	21687	5.2	4.8
Jordan	28		61	93	99	126	1.3	1.5
Korea, Republic of	151		1307	2256	2547	2747	0.8	1.2
Kuwait	206		317	...	...	...	4.4	4.2
Lebanon	...		171	239	263	...	2.8	3.7
Macao, China	26		214	292	306	400	9.5	11.5
Malaysia c	76		148	168	172	244	0.2	0.2
Mexico b, c, d	573		3602	3342	3034	2583	2.1	1.3
Morocco c	8	e	232	257	282	309	2.0	1.8
New Zealand	149		401	429	520	619	2.9	2.7
Norway	1231		1287	1361	1542	1666	3.7	3.5
Peru	1		59	90	108	92	0.8	0.9
Philippines c, d	14		75	66	83	90	0.2	0.2
Romania	26		322	...	581	645	2.5	2.0
Russian Federation d	-		2689	3860	4824	5461	6.0	5.7
Saudi Arabia	833		813	909	1026	...	2.7	2.8
Serbia and Montenegro d	-		46	97	145	...	1.2	1.8
Singapore	920		1881	1808	1944	2060	1.4	1.3
retained imports	328		560	541	501	562	0.7	0.7
South Africa b	108	e	223	207	349	620	0.8	1.3
Sri Lanka	11		...	103	105	113		1.4
Switzerland	3437		3160	3449	3977	4343	3.8	3.9
Taipei, Chinese	290		978	832	823	993	0.7	0.6
Thailand d	29		131	138	156	197	0.2	0.2
Tunisia	191		438	541	540	626	5.1	4.9
Turkey	16		264	283	422	651	0.5	0.7
Ukraine d	-		60	94	128	124	0.4	0.4
United Arab Emirates d	514		1422	1780	2047	...	5.3	5.2
United States	26977		67115	66731	71277	75731	5.3	5.0
Viet Nam d	...		450	331	480	430	2.9	1.4

a   Or nearest year.
b   Imports are valued f.o.b.
c   Includes significant imports into processing zones.
d   Includes Secretariat estimates.
e   Break in time series.

Source: WTO, International Trade Statistics 2005

Other material:
> Textiles and clothing
> Market access
> Market access negotiations
> Doha declaration
> Doha declaration explained

> More on: International trade statistics