US consumer expenditure on clothing and footwear fell by 1.1% in 2008 and continued to decline in the first half of 2009 as the recession took hold. Reflecting the downturn, there was a 10.6% fall in the volume of US textile and clothing imports in the first seven months of 2009. Exports fell too as demand in foreign markets weakened. In textiles, exports plummeted by 24.1% as shipments to the USA’s two biggest markets, Canada and Mexico, fell sharply. In clothing, exports declined by 6.8%, again due to lower sales in Canada and Mexico—although shipments to Japan and Saudi Arabia grew strongly. As a result of these trends, US textile and clothing output dropped significantly in the first few months of 2009. Employment was also hit and stood 15.0% lower in September 2009 than a year earlier.
In Argentina, textile output rose by 1.5% in 2008 but dropped by 13.2% in the first half of 2009. Foreign sales followed much the same pattern. In 2008 textile and clothing exports rose by 4.9%, but in the first quarter of 2009 they plunged by 38.0%.