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The Textile Magazine
MAY 2012
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43
Hikes in raw material prices hit
US, EU textile import volumes
global scene
American and EU textile
and clothing import prices
rose sharply in 2011,
reflecting hikes in raw
material prices, according
to Textiles Intelligence.
Between March 2009 and March
2011 the average cotton price rose
by 346 per cent, while the glo-
bal price index for synthetics – a
weighted basket of prices of acrylic,
nylon, polyester and polypropylene
fibres – rose by 71 per cent. Since
then prices have declined, but in
January 2012 they were still well
above the levels seen in March
2009.
Reflecting these rises, suppliers of
textiles and clothing to the EU were
forced to raise – or took advantage
of the situation by raising – their
prices by an average of 9.2 per cent
in 2011, from Euro 8.16 per kg to
Euro 8.91 per kg. Furthermore,
in terms of US dollars, the price
increased by an even faster 14.6 per
cent, from $10.81 to $12.39 per kg.
The effect was to almost snuff
out the recovery in the market
which had been welcomed in
2010 following recession in
the previous year. In volume
terms, EU imports from
non-EU countries rose
by only 0.5 per cent
in 2011 after they had
grown by 9 per cent
in 2010.
In the US market, the effect of
price hikes was even more dra-
matic. In 2011 the average price
of US textile and clothing imports
rose by 12.2 per cent to $1.89 per
sme, its highest level since 2001.
Whereas EU imports rose margin-
ally in volume terms, there was a
significant reversal in the US as
imports fell in volume by 3.2 per
cent after growing by 19 per cent in
the previous year.
The average price of EU textile
and clothing exports also rose sig-
nificantly during the year. In fact, it
was up by as much as 13.7 per cent.
Reflecting this, it is not surpris-
ing that one of the major topics of
conversation at recent European
yarn fairs was the high cost of raw
materials, particularly cotton and
wool. Indeed, spinners and fabric
manufacturers were finding it dif-
ficult to give forward prices for
their products because of the vola-
tility of cotton prices, and
this resulted in an increase
in interest in linen and viscose.
Interest in substitute fibres was
already apparent in US imports in
2011. The increase in the aver-
age import price was stronger in
the case of cotton apparel than in
apparel made from other fibres,
and these price differentials were
reflected in import volumes. In the
case of cotton apparel, imports fell
by 10.2 per cent as buyers were put
off by higher prices. By contrast,
imports of man-made fibre apparel
rose by 14.9 per cent.
As spinners await news of the
2011/12 cotton crop, the future of
the raw cotton market remains un-
certain. Although the extreme price
volatility witnessed in 2009-11 has
moderated, price volatility may be
something which the fibre, textile
and clothing industry will have to
live with for the fore-
seeable future.
w