Clothing Export Pattern for Market Forces

8/9/2019 Clothing Export Pattern for Market Forces

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International Clothing Export Pattern under Quota Regime (1980-2004)

Muhammad Mushtaq 1

(University of Management and Technology Lahore)

Stephan Weidner-Bohnenberger

(Rieter Textile Systems Germany)

Furqan Ameen

(Cotton Web Lahore)

Waqas Anis

(Cotton Web Lahore)

Abstract

In 1980, clothing export was of 40.83 Billion, US $, and in 2004, it has touched the figure of

270.265 Billion, US $. Clothing manufacturing is a labor intensive industry, low capital and even

low-tech industry. Thereby, it is one of the businesses, which suits to underdeveloped countries.

Due its particular nature, it has tasted many times, the quantitative restriction by importing

countries. These restrictions were mainly to protect clothing industry of developed countries, where

production cost was high due to high wages rates. It has been observed that majority of developed

and clothing importing countries used different ways to reduce the impact of clothing imports from

developing countries e.g. quantitative restrictions (quota) were introduced. This study reveals that

that in spite of imposition of quota, developed countries failed to keep their ranking and share in

international clothing business.

1 university of Management and Technology C II Johar Town Lahore Ph: 042-35212801-10,[email protected]


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Introduction

Clothing is one of the basic needs and desires of the human beings. It is obvious from the paintings

of ancient tombs and buildings that people adopted different ways to get clothes. Invention of

stitching machines facilitated to have more production with fewer resources. Traditionally people

were having tailored clothes and this service was provided at small-scale level. However, with the

start of industrial revolution, it became easy to have clothing production at bulk level. "In the early

days of industrial development in Europe and the United States, the bundles of unfinished garments

could either be sewn together in a factory, or workers took the bundles home to sew them together

there, after which they were returned to the shop or factory for finishing" (Nords, 2004, p. 6). This

shows that clothing production at mass level started with the start of industrial revolution and today

it is one of the leading industries of the world. Nevertheless, even in current times, in many parts of

the world, particularly in developing countries, where labor is comparatively cheap, people like to

have customized tailored clothes. However, it is a fact that there is an increasing trend in the

production of clothes at mass levels in factories. It is obvious from the international exports of

clothing. There is a continuous increase in the export of clothing at world level. Average compound

annual international clothing export growth rate is 8.19% from 1980 to 2004 (see hereunder tables).

Furthermore, there are many countries, which rely on clothing exports. Bangladesh is quite recent

and relevant example.

Clothing Manufacturing and Industrialization

There is an everlasting effort to make clothing industry less relying on manual labor. It is evident

from various inventions. Application of computerized cutting with laser is an example.

Furthermore, speed of stitching machine, auto clipping, and use of pattern making and plotters are

few examples of such efforts. Nonetheless, still there is a need of many workers to stitch clothes. It

is estimated during survey of knitted clothing factories that on average 200 people makes


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2000-2500 polo shirts from 100 machines in eight hours. On the contrary, in other sectors like

spinning and weaving there is less demand of workers. It is relevant to note that there is a lot of

automation in spinning and weaving, even in wet processing, which has reduced the demand of

labor hours. Based on this observation, textile industry can be divided into two main sectors; textile;

a capital-intensive sector and clothing; a labor intensive sector. "The clothing industry is labor-

intensive and it offers entry-level jobs for unskilled labor in developed as well as developing

countries. Job creation in the sector has been particularly strong for women in poor countries, who

previously had no income opportunities other than the household or the informal sector. Moreover,

it is a sector where relatively modern technology can be adopted even in poor countries at relatively

low investment costs." (Nords, 2004, p. 1). It is obvious from above mentioned statement that

clothing sector is much suitable for countries where technology level is not high and availability of

cheap labor is an edge. Nords has quoted example of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, and

Mauritius, where this sector has contributed a lot in the economies of the above-mentioned

countries.

In second half of the 19th century, when many developing countries, mainly Japan entered in

clothing exports, developed countries felt the need to protect their clothing industries. For this

purpose, they increased tariff and reduced quantity of clothing imports from different countries. For

this purpose, first time quota was introduced. This was an effort to protect local industry from

importing countries. As mentioned earlier, clothing industry is a labor intensive industry and as well

as low-tech industry. Due to this reason clothing manufacturing is suitable for developing country

as compared to developed countries, which are relying on high tech products.


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Quota Imposition

Developed nations used two main tools to protect their clothing industry; quota imposition and high

tariff on imports. In this case, USA leads the world and took serious actions to protect industry. "In

the United States, the textile and apparel industries receive higher levels of protection than does any

other manufacturing sector. The estimated tariff rate equivalent of all U.S. protection (tariffs and

quotas combined) is 23.4% of textiles and 48% of apparel" (Xu 1997, p. 93). It shows how USA

protected its industries. At the mean time, there is a lot of debate in the US about the cost which

consumers were paying to US manufacturers since under develop countries were able to provide

same products at lower prices but they were not able to fulfill demand of the market due to quota

issue. Due to this reason US, customers were forced to pay more to protect local clothing industry.

"Consequently, they cost U.S. consumers billions of dollars in terms of welfare loss (Xu 1997, p.

93).

Xu (1997) has given the historical background of the quota and tariff restriction. Xu started from

the first agreement, which was between Japan and USA (Agricultural Act of 1956). This act was

based on voluntary restrictions. Xu provides evidences of the different agreements. The objective of

every agreement is to protect US clothing industry. This agreement was voluntary restraint

agreement on cotton textile exports from Japan for the period 1957- 61. As stated by Xu, in May

1961, USA called a conference of textile and clothing importing and exporting countries. Short

Term Agreement (STA) was the outcome of all these efforts. This agreement was only for one year

and it was made to control import and export of textile and clothing. In 1962, another conference

was organized under the auspices of GATT to develop rules and regulation and finally Long Term

Agreement (LTA) regarding international trade in cotton textile was developed. LTA remained in

practice until 1973. Xu further states that LTA mainly covered cotton products, whereas, there were

many synthetic fibers along with wool available in the market. Taking advantages of the LTA,


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exporting countries shifted their focus from cotton to synthetic fibers. Once again, USA and other

importing countries felt the impact of textile and clothing imports and started to give protection to

its industry. The United States, along with other importing countries, felt the need to control imports

of clothes made by using man-made fibers. "In December 1973, some 50 countries reached an

expanded agreement under the auspices of the GATT. This multilateral agreement-known as the

Arrangement Regarding International Trade in Textiles or more commonly as the Multi-Fiber

Arrangement [MFA] went into effect in January 1974" (Xu 1997, p. 94). It covered trade in most

textile products manufactured from cotton, wool, and manmade fibers, as well as trade in apparel.

From 1973 until 1994, international trade of all textile and clothing products was controlled under

the MFA agreement. "The MFA enable importing countries to apply selective quantitative restraints

on particular textile products from particular sources under certain prescribed circumstances" (Xu,

1997, p. 94). Xu further states that after the completion of the Uruguay Round in 1994, it was

decided that all quota restrictions will be removed by the end of 2004. Based on the agreement

quota restrictions were lifted on Jan 01, 2005.

Above statement depicts that quota was initially introduced in 1960s and primarily it was for cotton

products. It is important to note that until 1960s, the share of synthetic fibers was negligible in

textile materials. Textile industry was using natural fibers as raw material and cotton was one of the

main fibers. Based on these circumstances, in 1960s, quota was imposed on cotton goods.

Nonetheless, in 1980s, many synthetic fibers were available in the market, particularly, polyester.

As said by Xu, in 1974, MFA was introduced, which covered multi fibers.

Objective of the Study


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This study is an effort to explain the changes in the share of clothing exports of different countries

and regions. For this purpose, we have taken export data from 1980 to 2004. It is important to note

that quota was imposed first time in 1956 but in 1973, it was imposed on all sorts of fibers (MFA).

However, we have taken period from 1980. It is due to the limitation of data availability. World

Trade Organization (WTO) provides data from 1980. Due to this limitation, we are relying mainly

on data available from 1980 onward.

In this paper, we have viewed the performance of the exporting countries based on the following

four points:

1. Value of clothing exported by countries in Million US $

2. Share percentage of the countries and regions in international clothing exports

3. Ranking of different countries at international level

4. Growth rate of different regions and countries

Major Clothing Exporting Countries and Regions

Data shows (See Table 1) that from 1980 to 2004, there are 41 countries, which have a significant

share in international clothing exports. These 41 countries cover 83 to 94 % total trade. The rest of

the share is with 50 to 70 different countries, which is quite negligible when it is compared with

other countries. Based on this observation, we have preferred to discuss role of the 41 countries in

international clothing trade.

These 41 countries belong to different regions and continents. Based on their political, social, and

geographical positions, we have divided these countries into eight following regions:

5. Africa (Morocco, Tunisia)

6. China and Hong Kong (China and Hong Kong)


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7. Eastern and Central Europe (Bulgaria, Czech and Slovak Fed., Hungary, Poland, Romania,

Turkey)

8. Far East Asia (Korea and Taiwan)

9. South East Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam)

10. North America (Canada, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,

United States)

11. South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)

12. Western Europe (Austria ,Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands,

Portugal, Switzerland United Kingdom)

We will discuss the performance of individual countries as well as of respective regions.

This discussion will elaborate the whole situation and one can observe how the different countries

and regions acted and performed under the quota regime. In addition to that, we have also discussed

the world's clothing exports in totality to know how this sector is behaving.

Change Pattern in Value, Share and rank of Clothing Exports: 1980-2004

We have developed tables based on the value of clothing export and share percentage of different

countries and regions. In addition to that, we have also compared the growth rate and ranking of

different countries in international clothing exports. We will explain the performance of different

regions with respect to value, share percentage, growth rate, and ranking.

Africa

There are two countries, which have a notable share in international clothing exports; Morocco and

Tunisia. Morocco exported clothing of 109 Million US $ in 1980 and in 2004, it was 3,023 Million

US. It shows that there is a 6.15% compound annual growth. In addition to that, in 1980, Morocco


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was at 29th position and in 2004, it jumped to 22nd position. It is also worth to notice that in 1980,

Morocco was having only 0.27 % in international clothing exports and in 2004, it is 1.12 %.

The second country from Africa, which has a notable share, is Tunisia. In 1980, Tunisia exported

clothing of 339 Million US $ and in 2004 of 3,289 Million US $. Tunisia has 1.22 % share in

international clothing business, whereas Morocco has 1.12 % share. The total share of Morocco and

Tunisia in international clothing exports is 2.34. It is important to note that in 1980, total share of

these two countries was 1.10 %. These two countries have made their share nearly double in 25

years. Nevertheless, compound annual growth rate of Tunisia and Morocco is 1.61 and 6.15

respectively, whereas, world growth rate is 8.9 %. It is also important to note that aggregate growth

rate of Africa is 3.2 %, which is nearly 60 % less than the world growth rate. Based on this

observation, it can be derived that growth rate of these two countries is less than the international. It

shows that there is a need of focused effort to increase the share in international clothing exports.

China and Hong Kong

Hong Kong was a country, which was ruled by UK for more than 100 years. Originally, it was a

part of China. Because of an agreement between UK and China, it remained under the control of

UK. In 1998, it became part of China. In 1980, Hong Kong had a 12.19% share in total clothing

exports at world level, whereas, in the same year, China was having only 3.98% share. It shows the

contribution of China in international clothing exports. Due to this high share and part of China, we

have grouped China and Hong Kong together.

As mentioned earlier, China was having nearly three times less share in clothing exports in 1980.

Nevertheless, in 2004, situation is much reversed. In 2004, China secured 22.89 % share whereas,

Hong Kong had gone down and had 9.29 % share. In addition to that, Hong Kong was at the top of

the list (first position) in 1980 among the clothing exporting countries, whereas in the same year


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China was at eighth position. Nevertheless, in 1995, China got the first position and Hong Kong

was pushed to position two.

In 2004, the collective share of China and Hong Kong was nearly one third (32.18%) in the total

clothing exports at international level, while this was only 16.17% in 1980. it shows that this region

has succeeded to make its share double in 25 years. However, it is also apparent that China has

increased its share from 3.98 to 22.89, which is nearly six times. On the other hand, share of Hong

Kong has reduced from 12.19 % to 9.29 %. It is important to note that Hong Kong has slipped from

its first position to second and China jumped from eighth position to first.

As it is clear from the following tables that world has an 8.19 compound annual growth rate,

whereas, China and Hong Kong region has 2.91 % share. It shows that growth is less than half of

the world growth rate. Even then, the collective share of this region is quite significant. This

tremendous growth share is a result of dedicated Chinese's policy.

Before ending discussion regarding China and Hong Kong, it is important to note that one should be

well aware about the policies of China in early 1990s. People preferred to work with China through

Hong Kong. It was mainly because for clothing importers, it was quite difficult to deal directly with

China. They preferred to work with China through Hong Kong. There were many companies having

their offices in Hong Kong but their production setups were in main land China. Otherwise, it is

known to everyone, that Hong Kong is a small country and cannot produce huge quantities. Big

share of Hong Kong is mainly attributed to production facilities in China. This practice still exists.


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Eastern and Central Europe

There are six countries in the area of Eastern Europe, which have a notable share in international

clothing business. These countries are; Bulgaria, Czech and Slovak Fed, Hungary, Poland,

Romania, Turkey. In 1980, collective share of this region was 4.73 % whereas, in 2004 region has

gone to 7.66 %, less than double in 25 years. Nevertheless, performance of individual countries has

a diverse picture. Some countries like, Bulgaria and Turkey had shown a substantial growth rate

from 1980 to 2004, it is 11.26 % and 11.25% annual compound growth rate respectively. Whereas,

Hungary, Poland, Czech and Slovak Fed could not maintain their share and had a negative growth

rate, it is -1.83, -2.6, and -3.53 respectively. It might be due to political instability in these areas.

However, performance of Romania is moderate, it has 2.16 % annual compound growth rate.

Interestingly, growth rate of Bulgaria and Turkey is at the fourth and fifth position in the list of

countries that had shown a tremendous growth over 25 years. This growth rate had also supported

these countries to improve their ranking. Turkey was at 28th position in 1980 and had jumped to

fifth position in 2004. This is a substantial and impressive change.

By viewing the performance of Eastern Europe, it looks that there is a vast difference in their

performance. It starts with negative sign and goes on to nearly 10 % with positive sign. The

performance of Turkey indicates that in near future, Turkey will be having more shares in

international market. Today its share is 4.14 %, whereas it was only 0.32 % in 1980.

Growth rate of Bulgaria is impressive but its share in international market is quite low, it is only

0.65%. It shows that it looks difficult for Bulgaria to have a sharp rise. It is an estimate based on the

previous performance that Turkey will be having a lead. It may be due to many reasons but one of


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the reasons could be that less lead-time is required in transportation from mill to ware house due to

less distance and road links.

Far East Asia

We have kept only two countries in this region; Korea and Taiwan. This region was having a

significant share in international clothing exports, which was 13.18 % in 1980. However, in 2004,

they had only 1.98 % share, which shows that these countries had changed their preferences and

ignored the clothing area.

In 1980, Korea was at third and Taiwan was at fifth position in the ranking of clothing exporting

countries. In 2004, Korea is at 19th position and Taiwan had gone to 34th position. This is evidence

that there is a drastic change in the position of these countries in international clothing business. If

we view performance of Korea and Taiwan, it looks that Taiwan has higher negative growth rate

than Korea. Korea has -7.03 % and Taiwan has -8.41% growth rates respectively. It is quite

substantial and significant. It is also important to note that Japan, which was once strong in textile,

is not among the 41 major clothing exporting countries. Due to this reason, we have not listed Japan

in this region. Apparently, it looks that after a certain period when underdeveloped countries

crossed some landmarks; they decided to move in high tech products. In this regard, we can take

examples of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and some European countries, even USA. It is the case with

Taiwan and Korea. It looks that they changed their focus and went in high tech products. Trend

shows that in coming years, these two countries will reduce their share in clothing business and will

increase their share in high tech products.

South East Asia


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We have put seven countries in this region; Cambodia, Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia,

Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam. Selection of the countries is purely based on geographical

positions. This region has second highest growth rate after South Asia. This region has 4.1

compound annual growth rates. Apparently, it is less than the world growth rate, which is

8.19 %. From this region, Indonesia has the highest growth rate, which is 8.8 %.

Nevertheless, Macao has the negative growth rate, which is -.48%. After, Indonesia, Vietnam has

remarkable growth, which is 7.17% and after then, Cambodia has the significant growth rate, which

is 5.10%. However, Malaysia and Thailand have moderate growth rate, which is 3.61 % and 3.45%

respectively. On the other hand, Philippines has a 0.65% growth rate, which is not significant. It

shows that in the region the developing countries, particularly, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia

are the major players and it can inferred from the trend that in coming years, these countries will

strive to improve their share.

There is a drastic change in the position of countries, which belong to this region. For example,

Indonesia, which was at 32nd position in 1980, has jumped to 16th position in 2004. Vietnam has

moved from the 41st position to 15th position. It is the most significant and substantial change. It is

expected that in coming years, Vietnam will have more share and will rise further. Thailand has also

moved from 25th position to 17th position. However, Philippines has slipped from 24th position to

28th in this period. Nevertheless, share percentage of Philippines has increased from 0.68% to

0.80%. It is quite a negligible increase. It also shows that Philippines has a nominal share in

clothing exports at international level.

North America

North America consists of Canada, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico, and United States of America. Selection of countries is purely based on the location of the


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countries. These countries are located in the area, which is called North America. In addition, other

than USA, rest of the countries are not far from the USA, which is a major market. This region has

improved its share in international market substantially. In 1980, North America was having 3.76 %

share in total exports of the world, and this share has gone to 8.53% in 2004. It shows that this

region has succeeded to make its share double in a span of 25 years.

Data shows that North America has a 3.47 annual compound growth rate, which is half than the

world growth rate but better than Western Europe and Far East Asia, which is -.93 and -7.6%

respectively. Major contribution in this growth is of Mexico. Mexico is at the top of the list among

the countries having highest growth rate, which is 30.22%. It is quite significant and shows that if

Mexico kept its growth rate, it is quite possible that in future it will cross many countries of the

world.

Ranking table shows that other than USA, majority of the countries from this region were at the

bottom of the list. Particularly, Mexico has jumped from 37th position to seventh position in 25

years. Honduras has also performed well. It has changed its position from 35th to 23rd. Table also

tells us that USA has slipped from ninth position to 11th position. It shows that there is a change but

not significant. We do not find any drastic change in ranking among other countries of the region.

In 1980, North America region had a 3.76 % share in total exports of clothing at international level

but it is 8.53 % in 2004. It is more than double. It is quite significant that it is compared with other

regions. Percentage table also tells that main contributor is Mexico. In 1980, Mexico was not in the

top 41 countries of the world and had a negligible share in international clothing business, but in

2004, it had a 2.77% share, which is more than USA share, which is 1.87%. It is also important to

note that USA was having 3.09% share in 1980 but in 2004, it had only 1.87 % share, which is


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nearly half. Other countries of the region, like, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Dominican

Republic have also increased their share. However, overall, North America has performed well and

it is hoped that in near future this region will have an increased share.

South Asia

There are four players in international clothing business from South Asia; Bangladesh, India,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Clothing exports is a key factor in the economies of this region. Other than

India, the rest of countries are heavily relying on textile and clothing exports.

This region has 4.95% growth rate, which is highest in the world. Nevertheless, it is less than the

growth rate of the world. In addition, major share in this growth is of Bangladesh, which has

29.29% and it is second to Mexico. Pakistan's growth rate is 6.41 %, which is higher than Sri Lanka

and India. India's growth rate is only 1.67% that is 20 times less than Bangladesh and four times

less than Pakistan. It is even three times less than Sri Lanka. All above discussion shows that overall

performance of Bangladesh is quite remarkable.

Ranking table shows that all four countries of this region have changed their ranking in a positive

way. However, the most significant change is of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was at the 36 position in

1980 and now it is on ninth position in 2004. Whereas, India has just moved from 12th position to

eighth position. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have also moved upward but their shift is not so drastic e.g.,

Pakistan has moved from 31st position to 21st in 25 years. Apparently, it looks that there is no

drastic change in the performance of this region, if we treat performance of Bangladesh separate. It

looks that Bangladesh is major contributor in this region.

In 1980, total share of this region in international clothing business was 2.17 % and in 2004, it was

6.93%. It shows that South Asia had made its share more than double in 25 years. By looking


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individually, we can find the picture, which is more close to reality. Bangladesh was having share,

which was quite negligible. It was not the top 41, countries that were having a notable share but this

country succeeded to achieve a share of 2.33%, which is very near to Indian share, which was

2.45%. It is important to note that India was enjoying a share of 1.65% in 1980 and in 25 years, it

could only make it double. Whereas Bangladesh has succeeded to make it 2.33% from scratch.

After looking at the figures of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it is obvious that both succeeded to make

their share from 0.25 to 1.12 and from 0.27 to 1.12 respectively. Based on this observation, it is

difficult to say that in near future, there are bright chances that these countries would do much

better from past efforts.

Western Europe

There are 11 countries from the Western Europe, which had a significant share in international

clothing exports in 1980, these are; Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,

Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland United Kingdom. Historically, UK played a significant role in

the development of textile and clothing. It is mainly due to the start of industrial revolution from

Europe, particularly from UK. It is evident from the fact that in 1980, this region had 38.69 % share

in international clothing exports. This is more than one third and one can imagine that rest of the

world has less than two third shares. Nevertheless, not surprisingly, in 2004, its share reduced to

24.21 %, which is still quite significant but it shows a negative trend. After viewing performance of

individual countries of this region, it looks that four countries from this region; France, Germany,

Italy, and UK have faced a severe reduction in their share, particularly, Italy had contributed a lot.

In 1980, Italy did have a share of 11.23 %, which came down to 6.76 %. Nevertheless, France,

Germany, and UK have also faced the same situation. However, their impact is not so severe since

their share was not so significant. There are certain countries, which succeeded to maintain their

share. Particularly, Belgium and Denmark have kept their share in international clothing business


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intact. As a whole share of all clothing exporting countries of this region had come down more or

less. This shows that even after using quota as a barrier, these countries could not maintain their

share in international clothing business.

Growth rate is another indicator of performance of the countries. Growth rate table shows that there

is -1.93% growth rate in international clothing business of this region. After looking minutely on the

growth rate, it became clear that UK is at the top of the list in its negative growth rate with -3.59

and the second position is with France. Italy has also a negative growth rate (2.09), which is less

than UK but its impact is quite significant since its share was nearly one fourth of the total share of

Western Europe. It seems that as a whole share of all Western European countries has gone down

and based on this trend, it looks difficult, particularly after abolishing of quota, that these countries

could be able to gain their lost share.

Ranking table depicts that there are four countries, which belong to Western Europe and are still in

the top ten clothing countries of world. Nevertheless, in 1980, there were five countries in the list of

top ten. One can observe that Italy, which was at the second position in 1980, has slipped to third

position. It is mainly due to the entry of China. However, Germany and France succeeded to keep

their ranking intact. They have fourth and sixth position respectively. However, UK has slipped

from seventh position to 12th position, which is a big change.

All above discussion is to provide an overview about the performance of different countries.

Different countries had behaved differently. It shows that there are many factors, which can affect

the performance of the countries in international clothing business.


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We can divide the countries involvement in clothing exports into two main categories; developed

countries, which are major importers, and at the same time there are major exporters and

underdeveloped countries, which are mainly exporters of clothing at international level, imports of

underdeveloped countries, is quite negligible. The export from the underdeveloped countries mainly

depends on the policies of developed countries, which are major importers. We see from the share,

ranking tables that developed countries are going down, and underdeveloped countries are moving

upward along the line of ranking. In addition, share of underdeveloped regions is becoming high. It

shows this business is moving toward underdeveloped countries. Nevertheless, the performance of

underdeveloped countries mainly depends upon the policies of developed countries, which are

major importers.

The discussion about the policies of importing countries is out of the scope of this paper. In this

paper, we have elaborated the pattern of clothing export and have tried to demonstrate the changing

pattern of clothing exporting share and performance of different countries and regions. We can

conclude from above discussion that it is apparent that clothing exports is being shifted from

developed countries to underdeveloped countries. It can be said that based on the trend in coming

times, underdeveloped countries will have more share. It is due to many reasons, the main reasons

are; clothing manufacturing is a low tech and low capital industry, its economy of scale is quite low

and there is a need of cheap labor. All these factors support the underdeveloped countries to grow at

higher speed in this business.


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Table 1: Clothing Ex orts Values: 1980-2004 (Millio US $)

!Countries Years 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004World 40,8

25

48,225 1,16,079 1,62,137 2,07,126 2,70,265

Austria 580 570 1,169 1,290 1,215 2,111

Bangladesh 2 168 643 1,969 4,162 6,296

Belgium 999 758 2,000 2,855 3,941 6,235

Bulgaria 236 701 1,753

Cambodia 970 1,981

Canada 211 252 328 1,016 2,077 1,995

China 1,62

5

2,450 9,669 24,049 36,071 61,856

Czech and Slovak 391 515 636 1,092

Denmark 379 468 859 1,478 1,722 2,575

Dominican Republic 85 782 1,721 2,555 2,121

El Salvador 31 8 184 700 1,673 1,815

France 2,29

4

1,935 4,671 5,659 5,414 7,981

Germany 2,88

2

2,885 7,882 7,530 7,320 11,888

Greece 398 628 1,714 1,841 1,539 1,820

Guatemala 22 9 24 36 49 1,651

Honduras 6 1 64 299 2,324 2,917

Hong Kong, China 4,97

6

6,718 15,406 21,297 24,214 25,097

Hungary 343 298 375 1,032 1,227 1,457

India 673 930 2,530 4,110 6,178 6,632

Indonesia 98 339 1,646 3,376 4,734 4,285

Italy 4,58

4

5,320 11,839 14,424 13,384 18,279

Korea, Republic of 2,94

9

4,450 7,879 4,957 5,027 3,391

Macao, China 422 513 1,111 1,377 1,849 1,952

Malaysia 150 325 1,315 2,266 2,257 2,326

Mexico 2 587 2,731 8,631 7,490

Morocco 109 198 722 797 2,401 3,023

Netherlands 875 755 2,189 2,774 2,732 4,617

Pakistan 103 256 1,014 1,611 2,144 3,026Philippines 279 598 1,733 2,420 2,536 2,157

Poland 641 283 384 2,304 1,915 2,247

Portugal 631 1,014 3,491 3,647 2,826 3,461

Romania 427 363 1,360 2,328 4,717

Sri Lanka 109 279 638 1,758 2,812 2,776

Switzerland 366 292 686 715 607 1,498

Taipei, Chinese 2,43

0

3,499 3,987 3,245 3,015 1,951

Thailand 267 573 2,817 5,008 3,759 3,985

Tunisia 339 280 1,126 2,322 2,227 3,289Turkey 131 1,208 3,331 6,119 6,533 11,193


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Tunisia 0.83 0.58 0.97 1.43 1.08 1.22

Turkey 0.32 2.5 2.87 3.77 3.15 4.14

United Kingdom 4.42 3.14 2.62 2.66 2 1.84

United States 3.09 1.63 2.21 4.1 4.17 1.87

Viet Nam 0 0 0 0 0.88 1.64

Table 3: Growth Percentage and Ranking of Different Cou tries in Clothing Exports

Clothing Exportsfrom 1980-2004

rowth % Ranking of Clothing Exporting ountries

Country Percentage Country 1980Country 2004

Mexico 30.22Hong Kong, China 1China 1

Bangladesh 29.29Italy 2Hong Kong, China 2

Honduras 19.6Korea, Republic of 3Italy 3

Bulgaria 11.26Germany 4Germany 4

Turkey 11.25Taipei, Chinese 5Turkey 5

Guatemala 10.65France 6France 6

El Salvador 9.51United Kingdom 7Mexico 7

Indonesia 8.18China 8India 8

Dominican 8.18United States 9Bangladesh 9

China 7.56Belgium 10Belgium 10

Viet Nam 7.17Netherlands 11United States 11

Pakistan 6.41India 12United Kingdom 12

Morocco 6.15Poland 13Romania 13

Sri Lanka 5.77Portugal 14Netherlands 14

Cambodia 5.1Austria 15Viet Nam 15Malaysia 3.61Romania 16Indonesia 16

Thailand 3.45Macao, China 17Thailand 17

Romania 2.16Greece 18Portugal 18

India 1.67Czech and Slovak 19Korea, Republic of 19

Tunisia 1.61Denmark 20Tunisia 20

Canada 1.5Switzerland 21Pakistan 21

Philippines 0.65Hungary 22Morocco 22

Denmark 0.11Tunisia 23Honduras 23

Belgium-

Luxembourg

-0.25Philippines 24Sri Lanka 24

Portugal -0.78Thailand 25Denmark 25

Netherlands -0.94Canada 26Malaysia 26

Hong Kong, China -1.13Malaysia 27Poland 27

Macao, China -1.48Turkey 28Philippines 28

Greece -1.53Morocco 29Dominican Republic 29

Hungary -1.83Sri Lanka 30Austria 30

Germany -1.95Pakistan 31Canada 31

Switzerland -1.98Indonesia 32Cambodia 32

United States -2.07El Salvador 33Macao, China 33

Italy -2.09Guatemala 34Taipei, Chinese 34

Austria -2.46Honduras 35Greece 35

Poland -2.61Bangladesh 36El Salvador 36


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France -2.64Mexico 37Bulgaria 37

Czech and Slovak -3.53Bulgaria 38Guatemala 38

United Kingdom -3.59Cambodia 39Switzerland 39

Korea, Republic of -7.03Dominican 40Hungary 40

Taipei, Chinese -8.41Viet Nam 41Czech and Slovak 41

Table 4: Value of Clothing Ex orts of Differ nt Regions Million US $

Regions/Years 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004

World 40,825 48,225 1,16,079 1,62,137 2,07,126 2,70,265

Africa 448 478 1848 3119 4628 6312

China and

Hong Kong

6601 9168 25075 45346 60285 86953

Eastern and

Central Europe

1933 1789 4453 11330 12639 20706

Far East Asia 5379 7949 11866 8202 8042 5342

South East

Asia

1216 2348 8622 14447 17926 21116

North America 1535 1140 4534 13154 25938 23048

South Asia 887 1633 4825 9448 15296 18730

Western

Europe

15794 16141 39542 46528 44836 65442

Table 5: Sha e and Growth % of Clothing Exports

Regions/

Years

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004Percentage

World NA NA NA NA NA NA 8.19

Africa 1.1 0.99 1.59 1.92 2.23 2.34 4.95

China and

Hong Kong

16.17 19.01 21.6 27.97 29.11 32.17 4.1

Eastern and

Central

Europe

4.73 3.71 3.84 6.99 6.1 7.66 3.47

Far East Asia 13.18 16.48 10.22 5.06 3.88 1.98 3.2

South East

Asia

2.98 4.87 7.43 8.91 8.65 7.81 2.91

North

America

3.76 2.36 3.91 8.11 12.52 8.53 2.03

South Asia 2.17 3.39 4.16 5.83 7.38 6.93 -1.93

Western

Europe

38.69 33.47 34.06 28.7 21.65 24.21 -7.6


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References

Nords, H. K. (2004). The Global Textile and Clothing Industry post the Agreement on Textiles and

Clothing(No. Working Paper 5). Geneva: World Trade Organization.

Xu, P. (1997). Effect of Multi-Fiber Arrangement Trade Restrictions on Textile Industry Profit

Margins. Contemporary Economic Policy XV.


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Clothing Export Pattern for Market Forces

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