US imports of leather apparel and accessories from China during January 2022 to September 2022 grew by 29 per cent year on year.

During this period US imports of leather apparel and accessories from China were 27 per cent of its total imports. The other top five suppliers were Italy (15 per cent), Cambodia (12 per cent), France (eight per cent), Indonesia (six per cent), and India (six per cent).

India is making efforts to boost leather exports. The US-China trade war offers huge opportunities to Indian leather exporters to raise shipments to the United States. This is the only industry where exports of value-added products are almost five times more than the import of inputs/components/accessories and capital goods.

US imports from China have been surging since 2020 when it touched rock bottom. Shipments in January 2021 to September 2021 were 12 per cent higher than inbound shipments in the corresponding period of the preceding year when they came crashing down by 45 per cent year on year. Inbound shipments were $4.831 billion from January 2017 to September 2017, and then they witnessed a downward trend to slip by two per cent year on year in January 2018 to September 2018. They further reduced to $3.393 billion in the corresponding period of 2019.