Apr 2022 Japan's textile and apparel imports plummeted

Japan’s textile and apparel imports in Apr totaled 197kt, down 12.9% year-on-year and 15.1% month-on-month, of which imports from China moved down 19.7% from the same period last year and 20.9% compared to last month. Japan’s textile and apparel imports in Jan-Apr totaled 844kt, down 2.9% from the same period last year and 3.9% compared with the same period in 2019. Both in terms of import volume and value, Japan's textile and apparel import demand did not perform well in April, showing a sharp decline, while the decline in Japan's textile and apparel imports from China was greater than that of total imports. The growth rate of Japan's clothing imports was not as fast as that of total textile and apparel imports.

From a monthly growth rate, the year-on-year growth rate of Japan's textile and apparel imports from the second half of last year to April this year was not ideal, and the performance in April 2022 was even worse, indicating that Japan's textile and apparel import demand recovered slowly. On the one hand, it was the impact of the epidemic; on the other hand, Japan's economic growth was obviously weak.

So what were Japan's textile and apparel import origins in April? What were the changes in these origins?

In April, the largest source of Japan’s textile and apparel imports was still China, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. From the perspective of YoY changes, in the major markets, except for the textile and apparel imports from Thailand and Myanmar, the others all declined to varying degrees, while the imports from China, Voyage, Malaysia and India dropped to a greater extent. As the imports from China accounted for a large proportion in the Japan's textile and apparel imports, it had a greater impact on Japan's total imports.

In recent years, the proportion of import volume and value of Japan's textile and apparel imported from China in total imports had a certain seasonal rule, accounting for the largest share in September or October every year, then gradually falling back to a relatively low level in April or May of the next year, and then fluctuating. Japan's textile and apparel imports fell sharply in April from a year earlier because of weak Japanese demand and seasonal effects.