(Industry Week – K.C. Jones)
The number of suppliers actively serving the U.S. apparel industry has dropped more than 70% in three months, according to an analysis released Monday.
The news comes as e-commerce sites try to draw online shoppers during the last days of the holiday shopping season. Panjiva, a company that collects and disseminates data on global suppliers and manufacturers, said Monday that the economic downturn has pushed down the number of suppliers actively serving the U.S. market, from 22,099 in July to 6,262 in October.
Of those still serving the United States, 40% are on Panjiva’s Watch List for year-over-year losses of 75% or more in shipping volume. A separate index that measures risk in the global supply chain has shot up from 24 at the end of July to 43 at the end of October.
“These numbers paint a frightening picture of the state of the world’s suppliers,” Panjiva CEO Josh Green said in a statement released Monday. “U.S. companies who maintain their customer base through the economic downturn may nevertheless find their survival threatened by the disappearance of their supplier base.” Read more here.
