TNAG-0145-FCO40-181-Exports-of-textiles-to-United-States-of-America-1969 — Page 30

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made-ups.

It will be seen that, in addition to yarn, which

has already been commented on, the only area of substantial

growth between 1966 and 1968 was in apparel. What the graph

does not show is that 60 per cent of the increase in imports

of apparel between 1966 and 1968 was knitted. This has been and

still is the fastest growing sector of the.U.S. textile market.

The increase in imports of woven man-made fibre cloth and non-

knitted man-made fibre garments over the same period was only

76 m.sq.yde. This represents a tiny fraction of the increase

in U.S. production of broad woven man-made fibre and silk fabric

between 1966 and 1968. On the other hand, the decline of

46 m.sq.yds. in imports of broad woven cotton products was only

a fraction of the decline in U.S. production of similar products.

On balance, taking cotton and man-made fibres together, there was

virtually no change in the degree of import penetration between

1966 and 1968: production of broad-woven fabrics fell by about

only 1 per cent and imports of woven cotton and man-made fibre

products rose by only 2 per cen..

19. The foregoing analysis suggests that the increase in

imports in the past two years has been largely confined to

filament yarns and non-woven products. The trade in filament

yarns is mainly with developed countries, notably Germany; and in

U.S.

U.S. this case exports are nearly twice as large as imports.

Production is also rising very rapidly. On the other hand, the

trade in non-woven, mainly knitted, products is mostly with the

developing countries, though in some cases, e.g. wool sweaters

Italy is a major supplier. United States production of non-

wovens generally has been expanding very fast.

/20.

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