According to the latest data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA), imports of blue denim apparel declined by 32.19 percent in value to $1.69 billion in the year to date through August. This was a bit better than the 35.26 percent year-to-year decline in the seven months through July.

Cambodia and Vietnam continued to be the only major suppliers on the plus side of the ledger. Jeans imports from Vietnam increased by 1.51 percent to $230.19 million in the first eight months of 2020, while Cambodia’s shipments were up 23.2 percent to $89.03 million.

Denim apparel imports from Bangladesh declined by 8.46 percent to $333.55 million in the period while Mexico’s imports fell by 50.89 percent to $274.45 million. Both countries trimmed their year-to-date losses in August from the prior month.

China’s plummeting market share continued, dropping to the No. 4 supplier in value behind Vietnam. Jeans imports from China were down by 60.21 percent in the eight-month period, slightly better than the 63.23 percent decline a month earlier, to $205.94 million.

The rest of the Top 10 suppliers showed moderate improvement in the month, but shipments remained significantly down for the year. Imports from Pakistan were down by 16.44 percent to $142.79 million, Egypt’s were off by 38.2 percent to $71.94 million, Nicaragua’s have fallen by 31.12 percent to $55.7 million, Sri Lanka’s have dipped by 17.49 percent to $31.06 million and Lesotho’s have decreased by 12.47 percent to $31.79 million.