HONDURAS
An analysis of imports and exports to and from the U.S.
Lindsey Crane
AMT 413
Assignment #1
February 11, 2010

Introduction
This assignment will provide us with the resources to gain knowledge in three important online international trade data resources, develop and reinforce key business and intellectual skills such as the ability to locate and extract international trade data from online databases, the ability to manipulate raw data, and the ability to interpret data all while analyzing the magnitude and trends of U.S. imports and exports of apparel. As the apparel industry is one of the major industries in the world, it is imperative that knowing how to analyze this kind of data and familiarizing ourselves with these sites is crucial to our success for working in this industry.
Specifically, this report will focus of the relationship the U.S. has with Honduras.
Part I
As chart 1-1 indicates, apparel imports from Honduras has steadily increased over the past decade. Although there was a slight decrease in imports in 2006 imports picked back up in
2007 and had a huge increase from 2007-2008. It is impressive that during such a difficult time for the US during the past decade, that production was able to increase and we were still receiving as many imports as shown. The most impressive increase in imports was from 1999 to
2000 jumping from $2158.2 million to $2323.1 million, the biggest increase than any other year for the rest of the decade. For the remainder of the decade we see just minimal increases throughout the next few years until the decrease in 2006, dropping to $2440.3 million. The average annual growth rate from 1999-2008 in apparel imports in US millions was only a 2%.
This minimal increase may be due to the slow increases over the years and decrease that occurred in 2006.

Table 1-1: Total US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2008 (Unit: US $ Million)
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2158.2
2323.1
2343.6
2439.7
2502.7
2673.4
2622.3
2440.3
2511.0
2604.0
Source: OTEXA Database
Chart 1-1: Total US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2008 (Unit: US $ Million)
3000.0
2500.0
2158.2
2323.1 2343.6
2439.7 2502.7
2673.4 2622.3
2440.3 2511.0
2604.0
2000.0
1500.0
1000.0
500.0
0.0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: OTEXA Database
As Table 1-2 indicates, the total Apparel Imports from Honduras in terms of units directly coincides with the amount of money that was shown in Table 1-1. As the new millennium began, imports started to increase. Along with the money coming into Honduras, the amount of units being sold in 2006 took a slight decrease but was able to steadily pick back up over the next few years and ended 2008 with the highest amount than any other year previously in the decade. The average growth rate was that of -5%. With such a steady increase from the start of the decade, it is interesting to see such a strong decrease and then have the increase start back up again as steady as it was in the beginning of the decade.

Table 1-2: Total US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2008 (Unit: Million Square
Meters)
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
942.8
1028.1
1020.7
1090.2
1151.9
1198.5
1246.8
1136.1
1222.9
1331.1
Source: OTEXA Database
Chart 1-2: Totally US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2008 (Unit: Million Square
Meters)
1400.0
1200.0
1000.0
942.8
1028.1 1020.7
1090.2
1151.9
1198.5
1246.8
1136.1
1222.9
1331.1
800.0
600.0
400.0
200.0
0.0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: OTEXA Database
The results from table 1-3 are a bit surprising in comparison to the previous tables. This table indicates that the most units were sold in the years 1999-2001 with a $2.3/square meter and steadied to a $2.2/square meter for the next few years. The slight decrease that we saw in 2006 is also shown here, but is not as low as one would expect with the strong dollar decrease and is the same as 2005 and 2007 when import dollars were higher. As the decade came to a close, the last
3 years showed the lowest $/square meters with only a $2.1/square meters from 2005-2007 and ending the decade with $2.0/square meters.

Table 1-3: The Unit Price of US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2009 (Unit:
$/Square meters)
1999
2.3
2000
2.3
2001
2.3
2002
2.2
2003
2.2
2004
2.2
2005 2006 2007
2.1
2.1
Source: OTEXA Database
Chart 1-3: The Unit Price of US Apparel Imports from Honduras 1999-2008 (Unit:
$/Square meters)
2.1
2.4
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.0
2.0
1.9
1.8
1.7
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: OTEXA Database
Part II
As Table 2-1 indicates below, Knitted Apparel dominated the imports from Honduras over Woven Apparel from the years 1999-2007. The same patterns occur in the trends of amount of Knitted and Woven Apparel as in previous tables. They steadily increase over the years and we see a decrease in the year 2006 and see it start to rise once again in 2007. The average annual growth rate for knitted apparel was 3% for the entire decade where the average annual growth rate for woven apparel was a -2%. With such a strong discrepancy it is clear to see the
2008
2.0

importance knitted apparel and that is where the U.S. is putting the majority of their money towards when it comes to their imports from Honduras.
Table 2-1: US Knitted Apparel versus Woven Apparel Imports 1999-2008 (Unit: US $
Billion)
Country HTS Number
Honduras 61
Total
Source: US Trade Dataweb
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Percent Change
In 1,000,000 Dollars 2006 - 2007
1,476 1,689 1,724 1,801 1,887 2,013 2,016 1,919 1,985
1,476 1,689 1,724 1,801 1,887 2,013 2,016 1,919 1,985
3.40%
3.40%
Country HTS Number
Honduras 62
Total
Source: US Trade Dataweb
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Percent Change
In 1,000,000 Dollars 2006 - 2007
720 727 714 702 680 729 669 599 602
720 727 714 702 680 729 669 599 602
0.60%
0.60%
Chart 2-1: US Knitted Apparel versus Woven Apparel Imports 1999-2008 (Unit: US $
Billion)
2,500
2,000
1,500 1,689 1,724
1,801
1,887 2,013
2,016
1,919 1,958
1,476
1,000
500
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: US Trade Dataweb
Knitted Apparel

Chart 2-1: US Knitted Apparel versus Woven Apparel Imports 1999-2008 (Unit: US $
Billion)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
720
727 714 702
680
729
669
599
602
Woven Apparel
100
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: US Trade Dataweb
Part III
As Table 3-1 indicates, the trade value of Exports to Honduras has slowly been decreasing during the years from 1999-2008. This may be due to the increased security in the US from outside countries from the terrorists’ attacks in 2001. The increased security and the downfall in the American economy didn’t leave companies with very much money to increase production due to the fact that American’s simply were having to decrease costs and save money because of economic uncertainty. The uncertainty showed in the numbers of the annual average growth rate. For the decade from 1999-2008, the average annual growth rate in Trade Value was
-20%. Such a huge deficit that shows the past decade was a difficult time for the entire world and showing it will take some time before we can get back to the numbers we had in the beginning of the past decade.

Table 3-1: US Exports of Apparel to Honduras 1999-2008
Period
Trade
Flow
1999 Export
2000 Export
2001 Export
2002 Export
2003 Export
2004 Export
2005 Export
2006 Export
2007 Export
2008 Export
Reporter Partner
USA
USA
Honduras
Honduras
USA
USA
USA
USA
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
USA
USA
USA
USA
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Code Trade Value
84 $1,038,889,601
84 $1,204,023,583
NetWeigh t (kg)
N/A
N/A
84
84
84
84
84
84
84
84
$966,493,661
$782,437,839
$679,384,228
$526,060,533
$421,827,904
$351,903,401
$269,916,299
$146,615,526
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Source: UN Comtrade Database SITC Rev. 3.
Table 3-1: US Exports of Textiles and Apparel to Honduras 1999-2008
Quantity
Unit
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Trade
Quantity
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1,400.0
1,200.0
1,000.0
1,038.9
1,204.0
966.5
800.0
782.4
679.4
600.0
400.0
200.0
526.1
421.8
351.9
269.9
146.6
0.0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: UN Comtrade Database SITC Rev. 3.
Flag
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Conclusion
This report focused on the relationship of imports and exports from Honduras in hopes to better understand the dynamics of the business side of apparel. The decade of 1999-2008 for the country of Honduras started off strong with increases for the first seven years. In all categories there was a decrease from 2005 into 2006 and was able to start back into positive production.
Overall, Honduras had a strong decade when it comes to production and even with a few years of a negative deficit it is proven that they are an important country when it comes to the U.S. receiving imports. What is interesting to me is that the number of imports into Honduras has dramatically decreased over the last decade. With so much that they provide for the U.S., one would think that they would be receiving just as much. As mentioned in the previous analyses, it may be due in part because of increased security in the U.S. As the U.S. continues to gain economic certainty, it is probable that the number of U.S. exports back into Honduras will only begin to increase.
Knitted apparel is a much bigger category in imports from Honduras over woven apparel.
Where knitted apparel had a growth rate of 3%, woven apparel had a -2%. Honduras’ focus should be on the focus of knitted apparel since it has such an increase over woven products.

Bibliography
Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). (n.d.). Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) .
Retrieved February 4, 2010, from http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/scripts/tqads2.exe
UN Comtrade. (n.d.). United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database . Retrieved February
6, 2010, from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/comtrade
United States International Trade Commission. (n.d.). USITC Interactive Tariff and Trade
Database . Retrieved February 5, 2010, from http://dataweb.usitc.gov/scripts/user_set.asp