São Paulo – Clothing companies based in the city of Maringá and vicinities are undergoing export-oriented training, and many are already shipping their items abroad. The municipality, alongside 68 other cities in the northern portion of the state of Paraná, comprises a hub which earns R$ 140 million a month from garment manufacturing, according to information from the Maringá Clothing Industry Union (Sindvest).
[[IMGTNOT1]]Some major companies in the region already export on their own account, but a group of around 560 companies in the industry has undergone training in the last three years, and some of them have closed sales to foreign countries. They are involved in the Industrial Exporting Extension Project (Peiex), an export-oriented training program of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), managed in the state of Paraná in partnership with the local organization Fundação Araucária.
According to the coordinator of the Peiex Operational Cluster for the Maringá region, Nivaldo Forastieri, the program also covers other industries, but textiles prevail in the municipality and surroundings. Forastieri explains that the companies have already been given training, and in November last year they attended a meeting with trading companies in order to kick-start sales.
Peiex offers technical and managerial training to companies. “A technician goes to the company, sits down with the businessmen, gives a diagnosis, and produces a report with the company’s weak and strong points,” the coordinator explains. After that, actions are suggested in order to improve the weak points. The intention is to have the companies be 100% ready to export, in all areas, and the technicians help in price formation, in setting up an export department etc.
Forastieri explains that currently, most Peiex companies which already export do so via trading companies, and that South America is the main target region. The textile hub in Maringá, however, has a strong potential when it comes to exports, because its output is 7 million items per month. Most companies affiliated with the Sindvest are micro and small businesses.
There are a total of 850 textile mills in Maringá and 1,200 in the region as a whole, comprising cities such as Campo Mourão, Corumbataí do Sul, Floresta, Inajá, Alto Paraná, Fênix, Guaraci, Itaguajé, Itambé, Ivatuba, Lobato, Luziana, Nova Londrina, Quinta do Sol, Santa Inês, Presidente Castelo Branco, Querência do Norte, Santa Mônica, São Pedro do Paraná, Sarandi, Tamboara, Terra Rica and Uniflor.
The hub is mostly known for its jeans items, but the companies also make knitted items and are mostly women’s clothes manufacturers. Summer is the main season. “In the summer, production increases 25% compared to winter,” the Sindvest informs. Sindvest organizes courses, lectures and events to provide training and assistance to its associates. It also helps manage the Peiex, and maintains an office for the latter at its headquarters.
A significant share of the local clothing output is sold at four wholesale shopping centres in Maringá: Avenida Fashion, Portal da Moda, Vestsul and Mercosul. Over 15,000 buyers show up each month, coming from other states of Brazil to supply their stores, especially Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The Vestsul shopping centre will undergo expansion and a fifth one, Pérola Park, will be built.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
