Among the member nations of DR-CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic), Dominican Republic exports the highest amount of textiles and apparels to the US, with an increase of 6.48% from US$184.9 million to US$196.9 million for January-April 2013, according to ‘Major Shippers Report – U.S. General Imports’ published by the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) of the US Department of Commerce.
Besides Dominican Republic, the other countries under CAFTA-DR are Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Among these countries, Guatemala and Honduras have shown a rise of 4.6% and 1.15%, respectively, in their textile and apparel exports to the US during the first four months of the current year.
On the other hand, the exports of textiles and apparels from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador to the US recorded a fall of 20.95%, 5.75%, and 2.87%, respectively during the period under review.
Although the Dominican Republic has topped the CAFTA-DR list in textiles and apparel exports to the US, it is in 25th position on the US import list, the report shows.
The US imported textile and apparel worth US$ 31.8 billion from all over the world, during the first four months of 2013.
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