São Paulo – Garment imports to Brazil grew 31.4% in the first ten months of this year as against the same period in 2011, according to information disclosed by the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit). Purchases of garments from abroad totalled US$ 1.8 billion in the accumulated result for the first ten months of the year.
There was growth, in fact, in imports of garments from the Arab world, despite the values being small as against the total. According to figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development Industry and Foreign Trade, Brazil imported US$ 11 million in garments from the region from January to October this year, with growth of 41% over the same months in 2011.
Sector imports as a whole, including garments and textile products, grew 9.4% in the same base of comparison, to US$ 5.62 billion. The growth is reason for concern among industry, but the main concern is with purchases of Asian products, whose low prices grant little competitiveness to Brazilian produce.
In the accumulated result this year up to October, textile items and garments came mostly from China, which occupied the first place in the ranking with US$ 2.8 billion, followed by India, with US$ 497 million, Indonesia, with US$ 291 million, the United States, with US$ 181 million, and Taiwan, with US$ 166 million.
The sector trade balance accumulated US$ 4.5 billion up to October, as exports totalled US$ 1.06 billion and dropped 9.3%. Domestic production is also down. From January to September there was reduction of 5.14% in volumes produced by the textile industry and 11.23% reduction in garment production.
*Translated by Mark Ament
