EU imports one third apparel and textiles from China

The textile products, including yarn, fibre, fabric, and home textile, imported by the European Union countries from all over the world in 2017 increased by 3%, compared to the previous year, and amounted to EUR 18.3 billion. Over EUR 1 billion worth of textiles were imported from four countries. The share of these four countries in imports constituted 61.3%.

The most important textiles supplier of the European Union is China. It exported textile products worth EUR 5.5 billion, followed by Turkey in 2017. According to Eurostat, the EU’s imports of textile products from Turkey last year increased by 0.7%, compared to the previous year, and were valued at EUR 3.3 billion. The third largest textiles supplier of the EU is India.

Approximately EUR 1.3 billion worth of textile products were imported in 2017. The fourth largest textiles supplier of the EU is South Korea, where textile imports of EUR 1 billion 58 million were imported in 2017.

China’s clothing exports to the European Union ranked first, at about 34%. The EU imported apparel worth EUR 31.4 billion from China in 2017 according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). Bangladesh ranked second, with around EUR 15.8 billion (17%), Turkey ranked third, with EUR 10.8 billion (11.7%). India ranked fourth, with EUR 6.2 billion, while Pakistan came fifth, with EUR 4.4 billion.

The share of EU clothing imports made in 10 countries is 89%. There are three countries exporting over EUR 10 billion worth of products to the EU. These are China, Bangladesh, and Turkey. The share of these three countries in total clothing exports to the EU is 62.6%.

Imports of apparel and textile products to the European Union member countries, with a population exceeding 510 million, reached EUR 110.9 billion in 2017. Of these, EUR 92.6 billion were apparel products and EUR 18.3 billion were imports of textile products.

The country where the EU imports from the most is China. Of the approximately EUR 110.9 billion imported in 2017, EUR 37 billion worth of products came from China, which is 33.3% of all of the EU’s apparel and textile imports.