Technical textiles and menswear exporters in EU-28 nations registered good performance in 2016, according to The European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex. Technical textiles sector is a pillar of textile exports outside the EU with a 38 per cent share in 2016, while menswear exports accounted for 23 per cent of total clothing exports. Technical textiles exports outside the EU-28 once again increased year-on-year to almost 10 bn euro, an increase of 2.4 per cent in value. “With 20 per cent of technical textile purchases from the EU-28, the US was far and away the main client,” Euratex states in its Bulletin 2017, which provides an in-depth analysis of the EU textile and clothing external trade for 2015-2016.
The report includes trade trends by sector, i.e. fibres, yarns, fabrics, carpets, technical textiles, home textiles, home textiles, workwear, mens and womenswear, by products and by EU main trading partners. Menswear exports outside the EU-28 amounted to more than 5 bn euro with a 2 per cent year-on-year increase. The leading buyer of menswear, Switzerland, reduced its purchases in value by 3.9 per cent. However, there was noteworthy double-digit growth in the value of exports to South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Serbia, Israel and Ukraine. The three major menswear products for export were: Trousers (32 per cent of category exports), shirts (19 per cent) and coats (17 per cent). Purchases of all three were up owing to the weak euro. Furthermore, exports of rugs and carpets outside the EU-28 expanded again strongly in value by 5.5 per cent. This sector represented 4.3 per cent of all textile exports outside the EU. Customer-wise, the four main buyers—the US, Switzerland, Norway and Russia—absorbed 49 per cent of exports of rugs and carpets outside the EU.
