Trade flows

Who buys and who sells fibre

Raw cotton and man-made staple fibre, HS 5201 and 5503, counted at the border by each country's own customs service and reported to the United Nations. It answers the question behind every sourcing decision: who has this to sell, who is buying it, and which way the trade is moving.

Read the year column first. The biggest seller is at the top and the rest follow in order of sales. Countries do not report at the same speed, so each row sits at the newest year that country has filed for both directions, and two rows are only comparable when their years match. The last column compares each country's sales with its own previous year, which for most rows here is 2024. The European Union reports as a single bloc, so its row is the 27 member states combined. Figures are the value declared at the border, so they include the goods and the cost of getting them there but not duty paid on the far side. Reported nothing: Bangladesh. That is a gap in the United Nations record, not a country that stopped trading, and we would rather name it than fill it with a guess.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own totals and percentages worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check raw cotton at the UN (opens in a new tab) Check man-made staple fibre at the UN (opens in a new tab)

Who Pakistan, India and Bangladesh trade fibre with

The table above says how much. This says to whom and from whom: the 10 largest customers and the 10 largest suppliers of each of the three countries this desk sources from, with a row for everyone else so the 10 are seen against the whole. Same file, same year, same headings.

Pakistan, 2025

India, 2025

Bangladesh, 2025, counted by its partners

Read the share against the whole. For Pakistan and India the share is of that country's own world total for the year, the 10 named are its largest partners, and everyone else is the rest of the world added together. Values are what the country declared at its own border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. The European Union is one partner of 27 states. A partner under $0.1M is shown in words rather than as a misleading zero. The dollars per kilogram column divides the value by the weight the same return declared, an average across everything in the group, coarse and fine together, so it is a level to hold a quotation against and not a quotation; it is left blank under a hundred tonnes, where rounding the weight would move it.

Bangladesh is counted by its partners. Bangladesh has filed nothing with the United Nations since 2018, so its tables can only show the partners that were asked about it: its sales are what United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia filed as bought from it, and its purchases are what India, United States, Pakistan, European Union, Brazil and Australia filed as sold to it. The shares are of that counted sum, not of the world, so every other customer and supplier is missing and the true figures are higher on both sides. A value counted at the far end of the voyage includes freight and insurance the exporter never saw , and its dollars per kilogram carry that too.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own roundings, shares and subtractions worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check at the UN, one heading per link, every partner shown: 5201 (opens in a new tab), 5503 (opens in a new tab). The Bangladesh tables are not in those links; to check them, open the same query with the partners named above as the reporters.

Who buys and who sells yarn

Cotton yarn and synthetic staple yarn, HS 5205 and 5509, counted at the border by each country's own customs service and reported to the United Nations. It answers the question behind every sourcing decision: who has this to sell, who is buying it, and which way the trade is moving.

Read the year column first. The biggest seller is at the top and the rest follow in order of sales. Countries do not report at the same speed, so each row sits at the newest year that country has filed for both directions, and two rows are only comparable when their years match. The last column compares each country's sales with its own previous year, which for most rows here is 2024. The European Union reports as a single bloc, so its row is the 27 member states combined. Figures are the value declared at the border, so they include the goods and the cost of getting them there but not duty paid on the far side. Reported nothing: Bangladesh. That is a gap in the United Nations record, not a country that stopped trading, and we would rather name it than fill it with a guess.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own totals and percentages worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check cotton yarn at the UN (opens in a new tab) Check synthetic staple yarn at the UN (opens in a new tab)

Who Pakistan, India and Bangladesh trade yarn with

The table above says how much. This says to whom and from whom: the 10 largest customers and the 10 largest suppliers of each of the three countries this desk sources from, with a row for everyone else so the 10 are seen against the whole. Same file, same year, same headings.

Pakistan, 2025

India, 2025

Bangladesh, 2025, counted by its partners

Read the share against the whole. For Pakistan and India the share is of that country's own world total for the year, the 10 named are its largest partners, and everyone else is the rest of the world added together. Values are what the country declared at its own border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. The European Union is one partner of 27 states. A partner under $0.1M is shown in words rather than as a misleading zero. The dollars per kilogram column divides the value by the weight the same return declared, an average across everything in the group, coarse and fine together, so it is a level to hold a quotation against and not a quotation; it is left blank under a hundred tonnes, where rounding the weight would move it.

Bangladesh is counted by its partners. Bangladesh has filed nothing with the United Nations since 2018, so its tables can only show the partners that were asked about it: its sales are what United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia filed as bought from it, and its purchases are what India, United States, Pakistan, European Union, Brazil and Australia filed as sold to it. The shares are of that counted sum, not of the world, so every other customer and supplier is missing and the true figures are higher on both sides. A value counted at the far end of the voyage includes freight and insurance the exporter never saw , and its dollars per kilogram carry that too.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own roundings, shares and subtractions worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check at the UN, one heading per link, every partner shown: 5205 (opens in a new tab), 5509 (opens in a new tab). The Bangladesh tables are not in those links; to check them, open the same query with the partners named above as the reporters.

Who buys and who sells fabric

Woven cotton fabric (HS 5208 to 5212), woven synthetic filament and staple fabric (5407, 5408 and 5512 to 5516) and knitted fabric (the whole of HS 60), counted at the border by each country's own customs service and reported to the United Nations. It answers the question behind every sourcing decision: who has this to sell, who is buying it, and which way the trade is moving.

Read the year column first. The biggest seller is at the top and the rest follow in order of sales. Countries do not report at the same speed, so each row sits at the newest year that country has filed for both directions, and two rows are only comparable when their years match. The last column compares each country's sales with its own previous year, which for most rows here is 2024. The European Union reports as a single bloc, so its row is the 27 member states combined. Figures are the value declared at the border, so they include the goods and the cost of getting them there but not duty paid on the far side. Reported nothing: Bangladesh. That is a gap in the United Nations record, not a country that stopped trading, and we would rather name it than fill it with a guess.

What is counted, and what is not. Fabric here is thirteen customs headings: woven cotton fabric, 5208 to 5212; woven fabric of synthetic and artificial filament, 5407 and 5408; woven fabric of synthetic and artificial staple, 5512 to 5516; and every knitted or crocheted fabric, the whole of chapter 60. Chapters 54 and 55 are not taken whole on purpose, because they also hold filament yarn (5402), the staple fibre (5503) and the spun yarn (5509) that the fibre and yarn tables above already count. Taking the chapters whole would have counted a kilo of polyester twice, once as fibre and once as fabric. The table below takes the thirteen apart into the four families a buyer shops in.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own totals and percentages worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check at the UN, one heading per link. Woven cotton: 5208 (opens in a new tab), 5209 (opens in a new tab), 5210 (opens in a new tab), 5211 (opens in a new tab), 5212 (opens in a new tab). Woven man made filament: 5407 (opens in a new tab), 5408 (opens in a new tab). Woven man made staple: 5512 (opens in a new tab), 5513 (opens in a new tab), 5514 (opens in a new tab), 5515 (opens in a new tab), 5516 (opens in a new tab). Knitted: 60 (opens in a new tab).

Who Pakistan, India and Bangladesh trade fabric with

The table above says how much. This says to whom and from whom: the 10 largest customers and the 10 largest suppliers of each of the three countries this desk sources from, with a row for everyone else so the 10 are seen against the whole. Same file, same year, same headings.

Pakistan, 2025

India, 2025

Bangladesh, 2025, counted by its partners

Read the share against the whole. For Pakistan and India the share is of that country's own world total for the year, the 10 named are its largest partners, and everyone else is the rest of the world added together. Values are what the country declared at its own border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. The European Union is one partner of 27 states. A partner under $0.1M is shown in words rather than as a misleading zero. The dollars per kilogram column divides the value by the weight the same return declared, an average across everything in the group, coarse and fine together, so it is a level to hold a quotation against and not a quotation; it is left blank under a hundred tonnes, where rounding the weight would move it.

Bangladesh is counted by its partners. Bangladesh has filed nothing with the United Nations since 2018, so its tables can only show the partners that were asked about it: its sales are what United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia filed as bought from it, and its purchases are what India, United States, Pakistan, European Union, Brazil and Australia filed as sold to it. The shares are of that counted sum, not of the world, so every other customer and supplier is missing and the true figures are higher on both sides. A value counted at the far end of the voyage includes freight and insurance the exporter never saw , and its dollars per kilogram carry that too.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own roundings, shares and subtractions worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check at the UN, one heading per link, every partner shown: 5208 (opens in a new tab), 5209 (opens in a new tab), 5210 (opens in a new tab), 5211 (opens in a new tab), 5212 (opens in a new tab), 5407 (opens in a new tab), 5408 (opens in a new tab), 5512 (opens in a new tab), 5513 (opens in a new tab), 5514 (opens in a new tab), 5515 (opens in a new tab), 5516 (opens in a new tab), 60 (opens in a new tab). The Bangladesh tables are not in those links; to check them, open the same query with the partners named above as the reporters.

Fibre and yarn, product by product

The two tables above add customs headings together because a first reading needs the shape before the detail. These take them apart: one table per heading, the same countries, the same years, so a buyer costing towels reads bed and bath linen on its own and a spinner selling into Bangladesh reads cotton yarn apart from synthetic. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are the first three rows of every table; the rest follow by sales, biggest first.

Raw cotton, HS 5201

Heading 5201: cotton not carded or combed, the bale as it leaves the ginnery.

Synthetic staple fibre, HS 5503

Heading 5503: polyester, acrylic and similar staple fibre before it is spun.

Cotton yarn, HS 5205

Heading 5205: yarn of 85 per cent or more cotton, not put up for retail sale.

Synthetic staple yarn, HS 5509

Heading 5509: spun polyester, acrylic and similar yarn, not put up for retail sale.

Read the year column first. Countries do not report at the same speed, so each row sits at the newest year that country has filed for both directions, and two rows are only comparable when their years match. The last column compares each country's sales with its own previous year. A dash means the country filed nothing under that heading for that year, which for a small heading can be a classification choice as much as a real zero. The European Union reports as one bloc of 27 states. Figures are the value declared at the border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. Where sales were under $0.1M in either year the change is not shown, because a few containers can double a tiny number.

Buys at and sells at are the dollars divided by the weight the same customs return declared, so each is an average across everything in the heading, coarse and fine together, at the border and before duty: a level to hold a quotation against, not a quotation. A dash in those columns means the country filed a value but no weight.

Bangladesh is the mirror row. Bangladesh has filed nothing with the United Nations since 2018, so its row is what its trading partners filed about it in their own 2025 returns. Sales out of Bangladesh are what United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia say they bought from it. Purchases into Bangladesh are what India, United States, Pakistan, European Union, Brazil and Australia say they sold to it. Benin and Mali were asked as well and had filed nothing for 2025, so they are not in that sum. Every other customer and supplier is left out, so the true figures are higher on both sides, and a value counted at the far end of the voyage includes freight and insurance the exporter never saw, which its dollars per kilogram carry too. Its change on the year sets the same partners against what they filed for 2024. China is not in that sum because its newest return is for 2025, a different year; on it China sold Bangladesh $1.6M of raw cotton, $78M of synthetic staple fibre, $139M of cotton yarn and $443M of synthetic staple yarn.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own totals, roundings , divisions and percentages worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check HS 5201 at the UN (opens in a new tab) Check HS 5503 at the UN (opens in a new tab) Check HS 5205 at the UN (opens in a new tab) Check HS 5509 at the UN (opens in a new tab) The Bangladesh row is not in those links, which ask for world totals; to check it, open the same query with its partners as the reporters and Bangladesh as the partner.

Fabric, family by family

The table above adds thirteen customs headings together because a first reading needs the shape before the detail. These take it apart into the four families a buyer actually shops in, each the sum of its own headings: woven cotton, woven man made filament, woven man made staple and knitted. Same countries, same years. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are the first three rows of every table; the rest follow by sales, biggest first.

Woven cotton fabric, HS 5208 to 5212

Headings 5208 to 5212: woven fabric of 85 per cent or more cotton, light and heavy, and cotton blended with man made fibre. Poplin, sheeting, twill and denim all sit here.

Woven man made filament fabric, HS 5407 and 5408

Headings 5407 and 5408: woven fabric of synthetic filament such as polyester and nylon, and of artificial filament such as viscose.

Woven man made staple fabric, HS 5512 to 5516

Headings 5512 to 5516: woven fabric of spun polyester, acrylic and viscose staple, on its own and blended with cotton, which is where polyester cotton shirting and suiting sit.

Knitted fabric, HS 60

The whole of chapter 60: knitted and crocheted fabric of every fibre, the jersey, fleece, rib and pile a T-shirt or a tracksuit is cut from.

Read the year column first. Countries do not report at the same speed, so each row sits at the newest year that country has filed for both directions, and two rows are only comparable when their years match. The last column compares each country's sales with its own previous year. A dash means the country filed nothing under that family for that year, which for a small heading can be a classification choice as much as a real zero. The European Union reports as one bloc of 27 states. Figures are the value declared at the border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. Where sales were under $0.1M in either year the change is not shown, because a few containers can double a tiny number.

Buys at and sells at are the dollars divided by the weight the same customs return declared, so each is an average across everything in the family, coarse and fine together, at the border and before duty: a level to hold a quotation against, not a quotation. A dash in those columns means the country filed a value but no weight, or filed no weight under one of the headings in the family. Knitted fabric has no weight columns because every country here files that heading by value alone.

Bangladesh is the mirror row. Bangladesh has filed nothing with the United Nations since 2018, so its row is what its trading partners filed about it in their own 2025 returns. Sales out of Bangladesh are what United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia say they bought from it. Purchases into Bangladesh are what India, United States, Pakistan, European Union, Brazil and Australia say they sold to it. Benin and Mali were asked as well and had filed nothing for 2025, so they are not in that sum. Every other customer and supplier is left out, so the true figures are higher on both sides, and a value counted at the far end of the voyage includes freight and insurance the exporter never saw, which its dollars per kilogram carry too. Its change on the year sets the same partners against what they filed for 2024. China is not in that sum because its newest return is for 2025, a different year; on it China sold Bangladesh $2.0bn of woven cotton fabric, $1.1bn of woven man made filament fabric, $781M of woven man made staple fabric and $2.1bn of knitted fabric.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own totals, roundings , divisions and percentages worked out from it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check woven cotton fabric at the UN, one heading per link: 5208 (opens in a new tab), 5209 (opens in a new tab), 5210 (opens in a new tab), 5211 (opens in a new tab), 5212 (opens in a new tab). Check woven man made filament fabric at the UN, one heading per link: 5407 (opens in a new tab), 5408 (opens in a new tab). Check woven man made staple fabric at the UN, one heading per link: 5512 (opens in a new tab), 5513 (opens in a new tab), 5514 (opens in a new tab), 5515 (opens in a new tab), 5516 (opens in a new tab). Check HS 60 at the UN (opens in a new tab) The Bangladesh row is not in those links, which ask for world totals; to check it, open the same query with its partners as the reporters and Bangladesh as the partner.

India, month by month

The tables above are whole years. This is the last twelve months India has filed, August 2025 to July 2026, for fibre, yarn and fabric: sold out and bought in, month by month. India is the one of the three that files monthly and quickly, so it is the freshest reading of the season and the direction of the market that the same source can give.

The window rolls. It is the twelve newest months India had filed when this was read on 14 October 2026, August 2025 to July 2026. August 2026 had not been filed by then, so the window stops at July 2026 rather than drawing a missing month as a zero. Values are what India declared at its own border, the goods and the cost of getting them there, before duty on the far side. Read it for direction and season, not for a single month: a month is a few hundred ships, a large order landing on one side of a month end or the other moves it, and a customs return can be revised after it is first filed. A dash means nothing was filed under that heading for the month.

UN Comtrade data, copyright United Nations. Values here are our own roundings of it, not the published figures themselves. Read on 14 October 2026. Check July 2026 at the UN, one heading per link. Fibre and yarn: 5201 (opens in a new tab), 5503 (opens in a new tab), 5205 (opens in a new tab), 5509 (opens in a new tab). Woven cotton fabric: 5208 (opens in a new tab), 5209 (opens in a new tab), 5210 (opens in a new tab), 5211 (opens in a new tab), 5212 (opens in a new tab). Woven man made fabric: 5407 (opens in a new tab), 5408 (opens in a new tab), 5512 (opens in a new tab), 5513 (opens in a new tab), 5514 (opens in a new tab), 5515 (opens in a new tab), 5516 (opens in a new tab). Knitted fabric: 60 (opens in a new tab).