The Federal Reserve has reported that US manufacturing and processing of yarn and fabric in 2007 fell by 12.1 percent, the largest annual decline since the US government began publishing output data on those products in 1972. In addition, production of goods from purchased fabric, such as curtains, sheets, towels, canvas products, and carpets and rugs, fell by 4.9 percent; and apparel production dropped by 2.5 percent.

The report triggered a new appeal from the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) for Congress to enact legislation quickly to address problems resulting from steadily increasing imports.

“A flood of subsidized imports, especially those from China, is crippling the US textile industry,” said Auggie Tantillo, executive director, AMTAC. “The decline in US output directly is tied to the loss of market share, and the loss of market share then directly is tied to the loss of hundreds of thousands of US textile and apparel manufacturing jobs.”

Tantillo said that in contrast to the apparel-manufacturing sector, which is labor-intensive, yarn and fabric manufacturing is automated and highly productive, but that this advantage is undercut by “subsidy schemes and illegal trade practices.”

He said that while education and tax cuts have their place in addressing job losses as a result of international trade, it is more important for the US government to “counter the aggressive subsidy schemes and illegal trade practices of China and other predatory exporters.”

January 22, 2008