Tracking Cotton End-Use Across Major Apparel Import Markets

Considering that the majority of the cotton fiber consumed to make yarn is destined to go into apparel, tracking what is happening in apparel markets is critical for understanding what is happening relative to fiber demand. While there has been a considerable amount of research devoted to U.S. apparel imports, comparatively little is known about other major apparel importing countries and regions, such as Japan and the European Union. This research is based on new databases designed to capture developments in each of these major apparel import markets. Given that product classifications are shared up to the six-digit level of the Harmonized System (HS), it is possible to make comparisons and generalizations across markets. This project identifies a series of cross-market trends, including the identification of products with growth and loss in recent years as well as discussion of changes in cotton’s share.