The Philippines' textile and apparel foreign trade continued to contract in the first eight months of 2026. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that combined textile and apparel imports fell 5.8% year-on-year to US$973 million in Jan-Aug, down from US$1.033 billion a year earlier; exports over the same period declined 1.9% to US$409 million, mainly due to lower garment shipments, which offset growth in exports of textile yarns and fabrics.

Key points

  • In Jan-Aug 2026, Philippine textile and apparel imports totaled US$973 million, down 5.8% year-on-year; exports were US$409 million, down 1.9% year-on-year
  • Imports of textile yarns, fabrics, made-up articles and related products fell 14.5% to US$626 million; imports of apparel and accessories edged up 0.8% to US$332 million
  • In August alone, textile and apparel imports fell 6.7% year-on-year to US$117 million, while imports of apparel and accessories rose 8.5%

Import structure: yarns and fabrics diverge from apparel

By category, the import decline came mainly from upstream textile raw materials and intermediate goods. In Jan-Aug, imports of textile yarns, fabrics, made-up articles and related products fell 14.5%, from US$740 million a year earlier to US$626 million; imports of textile fibers and waste fell 7.6% to US$104 million. In contrast, imports of apparel and accessories rose slightly by 0.8%, from US$300 million a year earlier to US$332 million.

Monthly performance showed a similar structure. In August 2026, the Philippines' combined textile and apparel imports fell 6.7% year-on-year to US$117 million, down from US$135 million a year earlier. Among these, imports of yarns, fabrics, made-up articles and related products fell 13.3% to US$68 million, while imports of apparel and accessories grew 8.5% to US$36 million, and imports of textile fibers and waste rose 4.4% to US$13 million.

Exports: fabric growth fails to offset apparel decline

On the export side, exports of textile yarns and fabrics grew 13.4%, but failed to offset a 17.5% drop in garment exports, pushing overall textile and apparel exports slightly lower to US$409 million.

For those in the used clothing and textile trade, the signal from the Philippine market is fairly clear: the contraction in imports of upstream yarns, fabrics and fiber waste reflects weakening demand in local textile processing, while continued growth in imports of finished garments shows that end-consumer reliance on foreign apparel has not diminished. This pattern of "upstream retreat, downstream stability" echoes the trend seen in many Southeast Asian countries in recent years, where textile manufacturing orders fluctuate while garment imports keep expanding.

Source: Philippines' textile & apparel imports fall 5.8% in Jan-Aug 2026 · Originally published on 2026-10-14