According to a recent report by France’s “Textile News”, French clothing imports fell by 3% year-on-year in the first half of 2009 due to the shrinking French textile and apparel consumer market. Despite this, France’s clothing imports from Asia increased by 9%. China still maintains its No. 1 position in clothing exports to France, with a year-on-year growth of 15% in the first half of the year. In 2008, China’s clothing exports to France increased by 14%; India, which ranks third in France’s market share, grew by 5%; it ranked fourth. Bangladesh grew by 17%; Vietnam grew by 7%; Indonesia grew by 6%; Pakistan grew by 13%.
Reports say that the growth trend in clothing exports from Asian countries to France proves that buyers adopt price-first policies. This policy caused a sharp decline in clothing exports to France from countries along the Mediterranean Sea. In the first half of the year, France’s clothing imports from the region fell by 13%. %, with Tunisia suffering the biggest loss, which fell by 18%; Morocco and Turkey suffered less, with increases of 11% and 8% respectively, but the export amounts of the above three countries were roughly equal. Among EU countries, the largest decline in clothing exports to France was Italy, which dropped by 13%.
According to reports, severely affected by the crisis, French fashion apparel exports dropped sharply, with exports falling by 7% in the first half of the year. French clothing exports are mainly within the alliance, accounting for 2/3 of its export share in 2008. However, the market’s demand for French clothing has dropped by 4%, and the demand for France from countries outside the alliance has dropped by 11%. In addition to Germany’s import of French clothing, which increased by 10%, other European countries whose imports from France decreased were: Italy -10%, Spain -2%, Belgium -3%, the United Kingdom -15%, Switzerland -18%, and the Netherlands -6% ; In particular, Russia’s purchases of French clothing fell sharply by 29%. Countries with a slight improvement in the French clothing export market in the first half of the year are Poland +12%, the United Arab Emirates +6%, Austria +4% and Lebanon +21%.
It is reported that in the first half of 2009, French textile exports continued to decline by 24%, exports to EU countries dropped by 26%; exports to Asian countries dropped by 26%, of which exports to China fell by 16%. Now the Chinese market is becoming more and more capable. Self-sufficient. French textile imports fell by 20% in the first half of the year, and France’s textile imports from EU countries accounted for more than half of its total. In the first half of 2009, due to a sharp shrinkage in French demand, France’s textile imports from the EU fell by 26%. Italy is the largest supplier of textiles to France, with a decline of 29%. The overall export of textiles to France from countries and regions outside the alliance fell by 9%.
