Brazil Is World’s 6th Textile Producer But 42nd Exporter

The director of the Brazilian Textile and Clothing Industry Association (Abit), Fernando Pimentel, is optimistic about the prospects of the Brazilian textile sector.

In his view, the end of the Textile and Clothing Agreement with trade blocs representing the rich countries, such as occurred in the European Union in December, 2004, opens new opportunities for Brazil to seek markets.

The world textile and clothing market was regulated for four decades by quota systems imposed by the developed countries in an attempt to protect their industries.

The goal of the Abit is to endeavor to get Brazil back up to at least a 1% share of the world textile market, as against 0.5% in 2004.

According to Pimentel, even though Brazil’s textile industry is the world’s sixth largest in size, its position among exporters is 40th or 42nd.

“We want to increase the share of exports in the industry’s overall earnings. Last year this share was around 8.5%,” he informed.

National textile exports hit record levels last year, reaching US$ 2.080 billion, 108% more than the US$ 1 billion exported in 1999 and 26% more than in 2003.

For 2005, Pimentel believes that, provided the GDP grows around 4%, as is forecasted, accompanied by the generation of employment and income, the textile sector is expected to perform well on the domestic market, with growth of 5-6%.

The earnings of the Brazilian textile sector last year totaled US$ 25 billion, with investments of US$ 1.2 billion.

The approximately 115 thousand establishments that sell clothing goods generated 82 thousand formal job positions in the country during the period.

The textile chain, made up of 30 thousand firms, accounted for 1.5 million job positions.

Translation: David Silberstein

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazilian Study Shows Hydropower Pollutes 4 Times More than Fossil-Fuel

Hydropower plants have long been a byword for clean energy. But researchers warn that ...

Brazilian Exports Get US$ 49 Billion, 14% More than Last Year

Agribusiness in Brazil had US$ 4.3 billion revenues from exports in November. The amount ...

Why the Olympics Honchos Snubbed Brazil

New York and Madrid garnered a better security rating than Rio from the International ...

Brazil Market Ends 2004 in Record Breaking Pace

Brazilian shares continued upward to set a record closing high in the final day ...

RAPIDINHAS

Anthropologist and Senator Darcy Ribeiro died on February 17. He was considered by most ...

Brazilian Architects Have Program to Get World Recognition

The idea is to promote Brazilian architecture projects and services abroad. For that the ...

Six Years Later Brazil Sends to Prison for 23 Years Killer of Journalist

New-York based press freedom organization Committee to Protect Journalists is praising the Brazilian authorities ...

Brazilian Police March on the Streets and Threaten National Strike

Brazilian police and firemen from all over the country, about 1,000 of them, marched ...

Brazil Still Friends With Chavez After ‘Bush Is the Devil’ Remarks

Celso Amorim, Brazil’s Foreign Relations Minister,  did not want to comment on the speech ...

Presidential Campaigning Halts While Brazil Mourns Death of a Candidate

The death of Brazil’s presidential candidate Eduardo Campos to the October election has appalled ...