Competition in the OECD Textile- and Apparel-import Markets.

An investigation is reported of competition in the OECD textile- and apparel-import markets. Constant-market-share (CMS) analysis was used to examine factors influencing the growth of textile and apparel exports from five major exporting regions to the OECD in three different time periods: 1975-77, 1978-81, and 1982-84. In addition, Markov analysis was used to examine competition between the major exporting regions from 1975 to 1984 and to project their market shares from 1985 to 1994. The results of the CMS analysis indicated that the developing regions were more competitive than the developed regions for both textiles and apparel, particularly in the 1975-77 period. The results of the Markov analysis indicated that most of the major changes in market shares had occurred by 1984 for textiles, whereas changes were still projected to occur for apparel. The developed regions will account for 74% of all OECD textile imports in 1994 as compared with 81% in 1975. In the case of apparel, the market shares of the developed regions will decline from 56% in 1975 to 33% in 1994. These results reflect the greater labour-cost advantages of the developing countries in apparel production and trade as opposed to textile production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]