The record number of shirts goes to the Netherlands

Just over half of the imports of cotton t-shirts and shirts are for the Dutch market. The rest goes abroad as a re-export. Cotton shirts are not made in the Netherlands almost anywhere. In the first eight months of 2018. Approx 110 million shirts available for home use (both by households and companies), slightly less than in the record year 2006. Over twenty years this number has more than doubled.

It was all 2017 129 million shirts available on the Dutch market, an average of 8 per capita. In 1998 there were still 4 on the Dutchman.

The import price was slightly higher than twenty years ago

In 2017 he came 91 million shirts directly from Bangladesh to the Netherlands. This is therefore the most important supplier. Other producers of large shirts are China (21 million delivered pieces), India and Turkey (both 17 million units).

The average import price per shirt in 2018 exceeds 3 euros. Shirts produced in Bangladesh are at an import price of approx 2 euros much cheaper. Also the price of T-shirts from China (approx 2.50 euros) was lower than average. Shirts from India (approx 3.20 euros) are about average and Turkish shirts (approx 5 euro) were more expensive than average.

Shirts from Bangladesh have grown in the last twenty years 60 cents in price, while the average import price of the shirt in 2018 ca. 20 cents higher than in 1998.

China's main clothing supplier for production

This year, other clothes were brought. It was in the first eight months of 2018 7.6 billion euro, 8 percent more than the year before. More than half of them come directly from Asia to the Netherlands.

The Netherlands reached throughout 2017 1.9 billion Euro clothing from China. Bangladesh appeared 1.0 billion euro on clothing. The Netherlands imported more shirts and trousers from Bangladesh than from China. Other clothes, such as sweaters, dresses, shirts, costumes and coats, were more often from China. Turkey has three (0.6 billion) as a supplier of clothing from outside the European Union. Then India and Vietnam (both 0.3 billion). The value of imports from China and Bangladesh has more than sixfold in the last twenty years. Imports from Vietnam have more than quadrupled. Imports from Turkey and India doubled.

In addition to direct imports from Asia, clothing goes to the Netherlands by other countries in the European Union. Some of these clothes were also produced in Asia. Statistics The Netherlands does not provide figures for this 'indirect' Asian imports into the Netherlands.

The clothing industry is much more important to Bangladesh than to China

Clothing export is an important pillar of Bangladesh's economy. It was in 2016 82 percent all Bangladesh export clothing. Bangladesh has been specializing since 1980 as a clothing manufacturer.

In the case of other major countries exporting clothing, the clothing industry has a smaller share in exports. This is in China 8 percent, in India 7 percent, in Turkey 11 percent and in Vietnam 14 percent. In these countries, the share of clothing has gradually decreased since the nineties.

Clothing is also leading in the Dutch imports from Bangladesh. In 2017 he was 82 percent total imports from Bangladesh. This is much more than for imports from China (5 percent), India (11 percent), Turkey (21 percent) and Vietnam (6 percent).