(Filed Under Textiles News). The Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association, or ABIT, announced that the country’s textile industry could grow 5 percent annually, reaching $75 billion by 2016, if the Brazilian government passes laws that would cut production costs and help control the amount of imports from China, the country’s largest competitor.

According to ABIT, Brazil’s textile and apparel industry employs 8 million people and has $50 billion in assets, but is struggling since the country has increased textile and apparel imports from China by 35 percent this year. More than 70 percent of all clothing and fabric imports to Brazil are from China.

Brazil’s textile and apparel industry produces more than $50 billion of clothing and fabric each year, yet most sales are local, with only 5 percent going to export. ABIT has asked the Brazilian government to cut energy and labor taxes 35 percent and 20 percent, respectively, to enable Brazilians to spend more in restructuring initiatives to sell more than international competitors.

ABIT is also working to enter new markets in the Middle East and Asia as well as increase the amount of exports to the U.S. Brazil sells mostly home textiles to the U.S. to the tune of $238 million in 2010, but ABIT is looking to both diversify and increase the exports to the U.S. market.

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Published 06-30-2011 by Katherine Rautenberg