Brazilian textile industry defines target countries for export
Folha de S. Paulo
The Brazilian textile industry made a list of 13 countries that will be the target of exports over the next two years. China, Australia and Greece are the potential new markets of the sector. To encourage the sales of textile products to these and ten other countries (Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Angola, Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Italy and the United Arab Emirates), the Abit (Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association) signed a two-year agreement today with the Apex-Brazil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), connected to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
To China, the Brazilian industries will export products of higher added value to a high purchasing power public. To Australia, the sale will be focused on children's clothes; and to Greece, articles for bed, kitchen and bath and the beach line. "We're getting ready to increase the participation of Brazil, which is less than 1%, in the world commerce of textiles", says Fernando Pimentel, Managing Director of the Abit. The agreement involves R$ 44 million (US$ 25.1 million), split between businessmen and the Government in order to pay for the participation of professionals in fairs and events.
The 518 companies that are part of the Texbrasil program (for the export of the Brazilian fashion) shall export nearly US$ 460 million this year - 5% more than in 2009. The industry is also getting ready to sell more in Brazil. In the country, the annual consumption of fibers, used in the production of clothing, items of decoration and other articles gets to 11 kilograms per inhabitant. "For many years the consumption remained between 9 and 10 kilos. In case the industry grows 6%, the consumption of fibers will exceed 11 kilograms a year per inhabitant". Entrepreneurs are excited with the survey of A.T. Kearney, which, for the second time, places Brazil as the most promising country for investments in the world retail of clothing. The survey considers the market size, the perspective of growth and the expenditure per inhabitant.