Certain Textile Articles: Travel Goods of Textile Materials

摘要

This study, which covered calendar years 2005 and 2006, found that there is relatively little production of travel goods with an outer surface of textile materials, or of the fabrics from which they are produced, in the United States, as most firms reportedly have moved production offshore, primarily to Asia. Nine companies reported producing or contracting for the production of such travel goods in the United States during 2005-06. Domestic producers of the subject travel goods either serve niche markets or produce for the U.S. military and government. U.S. shipments of travel goods with an outer surface of textile materials totaled an estimated $37 million in 2006. Between 2005 and 2006, both the quantity of domestic production and the value of domestic shipments of the subject goods declined, primarily reflecting a decline in shipments to commercial markets. While domestic production for the U.S. military and government nearly doubled between 2005 and 2006, it represented less than 5 percent of domestic production of such goods. The limited data available on the total market for the subject travel goods suggest that domestic production accounts for a small share of the total U.S. market for such goods. Nine firms reported producing or contracting for the production of textile materials, or fabrics, for use in travel goods in the United States during 2005-06. U.S. shipments of domestically produced fabrics for use in the subject travel goods totaled an estimated 11.2 million square meters in 2006, up from 9.2 million square meters in 2005. Over 70 percent of the value of shipments of such fabrics was intended for goods produced for the U.S. military and government. It is likely that the shipments data are overstated, because the specific end use of the fabricparticularly that used by the U.S. military and governmentis often not known to the fabric producer; thus, the data likely include fabrics intended for use in products that are not included in the scope. This report draws on industry information received by the Commission from questionnaire responses and interviews with representatives of the travel goods and fabric industries.