In the US, the expenditure on garments is currently decreasing due to the economic recession, decline of the dollar and increase in consumer spending on gasoline. Therefore, textile imports from January to March 2008 were 15.85 billion SME (square meter equivalent), a drop of 3.6% in volume from the same period last year and amounted $28.66 billion, a drop of 2.6% in value.

As for country-by-country imports, imports from China increased by 0.4% in volume, but decreased by 2.6% in value. Imports from India increased by 0.5% in volume and increased by 4.3% in value. While imports from Mexico, Korea, Canada, Taiwan and Turkey drastically decreased, those from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Honduras and El Salvador increased. The following chart shows actual imports from individual countries.