Drop in Apparel Exports to the US during pandemic

 A Research paper published on "Workers Rights" website showed how the Covid-19 impacted garment suppliers/manufacturers with big Retailers retroactively canceling the orders that suppliers had already produced or were in process of producing.

(link to paper : https://www.workersrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Unpaid-Billions_October-6-2020.pdf)

A comparative study of exports in 2019 and 2020 showed a total value difference of USD 9.7 billion from April through June 2020 relative to 2019.

Below are the visualizations, where I have done a monthly comparison with March as a base month for both years individually, a Y-o-Y comparison at an overall level and at country level and a final visualization on difference in exports for each country.

1. Comparing March exports with other months for each year.

                

   

from the above chart we can see that the usual trend in 2019 was an increase in month of May & June with a small drop in April. In 2020 the drop is significant in all months, with a 60% drop in May'20.

        2. Year over Year comparison;

                    

            Drop across all months with a significant low impact in March'20.

        3. Year over Year comparison exporting Country wise;

            

        4. A polygon chart showing cumulative reduction in exports in 2020 from 2019;

    

          

  Comparing difference in exports during 2019 and 2020 shows a significant drop in exports for countries irrespective of whether the country was under strict or partial lockdown leading to a conclusion that the drop was majorly due to order cancellations by retail brands.(Source : Workers Rights)

Credits : Andy Kriebel (link to video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRhQCHS32e8&t=4854s)

Dataset : https://data.world/makeovermonday/2020w43-apparel-exports-to-us