Brazil'S Textile And Apparel Industry Has Surged.

　　巴西是南美洲面積第一大的國家，也是經濟發展較快的國家。巴西經濟實力居拉美首位。1992年巴西國內生產總值4305億美元。2008年的GDP總量為16650億美元，成為世界第十大經濟強國，且與排名第九的西班牙僅差180億美元。

Brazil, with an area of 8 million 500 thousand square kilometers, occupies 46% of the total area of South America. It is next to Russia, Canada, China and the United States, and is the fifth largest country in the world.

It may be a coincidence that from the population perspective, Brazil ranks fifth in the world.

Because of historical reasons, the racial composition of Brazil's population is very complicated.

It is called "melting pot".

Brazil is one of the world's major textile and garment producing countries. It is the world's second largest producer of coarse denim, the third largest producer of knitted fabrics and the fifth largest producer of garments.

Brazil textile and garment practitioners have 1 million 500 thousand people, more than 30 thousand enterprises.

In 2005, the total output value of textiles and clothing in Brazil was 26 billion US dollars, mainly for the domestic market, with an export volume of only US $2 billion 200 million.

The cotton processing industry in Brazil is very developed and can meet domestic needs. Its cotton fiber has certain international competitiveness.

Brazil produces 1 million tons of cotton yarn annually, and its raw materials are mainly supplied by the country.

Brazil also exports cotton fiber, with an annual export volume ranging from 30 thousand tons to 300 thousand tons.

Imports are also changing every year.

As Brazil cotton yarn has cost advantages (lower than China's price), Brazil's cotton textile industry has high confidence in the competitiveness of its cotton yarn.

Compared with the developed cotton industry, the chemical fiber industry in Brazil is very weak, and the trade deficit in man-made fibres is increasing.

In 2004, the export volume of Brazil's man-made fibres was US $151 million, and imports amounted to US $497 million, especially polyester fiber. The import volume was increasing.

Of the polyester fibers consumed in Brazil in 2004, 49% were imported, compared with 1% in 1992.

85% of the imports of polyester fiber come from Asia, China, Taiwan and Indonesia are the main suppliers.

The output of Brazil coarse denim is very large. According to the statistics of Brazil textile and Garment Association (ABIT), the monthly production of coarse denim is 45 million meters, of which 10 million meters are used for export.

Brazil also produces a large number of underwear and swimsuit.

Often, an industry's over reliance on the domestic market may be seen as a weakness.

However, in the current situation, it has become a strength.

In the textile and clothing industry, the biggest losses are those which are highly dependent on the export market. The export market is now in a recession, and world trade has dropped sharply. Most industries have suffered more or less.

When Brazil's economic development is good, the textile and garment industry is also in good condition, because most of the products in the textile industry are sold to Brazil's huge domestic market, with 198 million consumers in Brazil, and their purchasing power is growing steadily.

At present, the economy is in a recession from a global perspective, but in the first quarter of 2009, Brazil's GDP declined by only 0.8%. Many investors believe that Brazil's recovery rate will be faster than that of other countries.

For China, India, Vietnam and other countries, export products account for a large proportion of all clothing products, and export is of great significance.

In Brazil, this is quite different. Although Brazil has been working hard to develop new markets in recent years, the export volume of Brazil is still very low for a productive garment industry.

In 2008, exports accounted for only 4% of the total sales volume of the textile industry by US $43 billion.

Another feature of Brazil's textile industry is that Brazil's textile industry focuses on the field of technical textiles.

According to the report of Brazil Textile Industry Association, technical textiles accounted for 26% of textile and clothing exports in 2008, and technical textiles became the largest export category.

On the other hand, clothing exports accounted for 14%.

Brazil is the most attractive clothing market because of population and demand.

From the perspective of population demand, Brazil has become the main emerging market after China and India.

At present, many brands have not yet entered the Brazil market.

From the perspective of population structure, Brazil is a young country. Over sixty percent of the population is under 29 years old, and its clothing consumption per year is 402 dollars, which is 6 times the average consumption of Chinese consumers.

The clothing market in Brazil is a huge group and has been growing. Most of them have yet to be developed by pnational competitors.

When planning to enter the mass market in Brazil, multinational clothing retailers must seize the concept of consumers. The concept of Brazil consumers is quite different from that of most developed and many emerging market consumers.

First of all, consumers in Brazil are very fond of buying clothes: almost eighty percent of people look forward to new clothes, which is much higher than that of China and Russia, about the same as that of India.

More than half of Brazil consumers buy clothes to go out with friends and family.

Today, many local retailers and local brands they sell are highly valued by Brazil shoppers.

In China, India and Russia, less than half of the respondents will say "I believe in local brands", while only 10% of Brazilians in Brazil believe that the quality of foreign brands is superior to that of local brands.

Nevertheless, there are still quite a few consumers who like foreign brands. Some multinational companies have made great success in Brazil market, such as European clothing retailer C&A.

C&A's successful experience is "territorialization", for example, using Brazil super model as brand spokesperson, doing promotional advertisements in various print media.

Credit cards for general use are rare in Brazil, especially in the mass market.

Nevertheless, Brazil consumers prefer to use credit cards when buying clothing, which is much more frequent than other emerging markets.

In addition, small scale local retailers account for more than sixty percent, and they are scattered in the domestic retail apparel market.

All major local and multinational garment retailers must provide credit cards at a lower initial limit, and the quota increases with the increase in consumer credibility.

Those multinational companies with eyes staring at the market opportunities of Brazil's public clothing market must develop new skills.

Because they compete with local retailers, and local retailers often provide better credit services to consumers in the mass market. Their services are better than those of large retail banks.

For example, local retailers have higher penetration and lower loss rates.

Multinational companies must also change their sales promotion activities.

In developed markets, promotional activities tend to have seasonal and product details, but in Brazil, clothing retailers use attractive credit card products to attract customers, such as installments.

If we want to make full use of Brazil's unique market characteristics, multinationals must concentrate on hiring strong local management teams. They are good at marketing and help to skillfully arrange competitive credit products.

For domestic retailers, they should take advantage of their skills to expand markets outside major cities, develop new forms of competition, and gain market share from irregular retailers, so as to seize a large number of development opportunities before multinational competitors succeed.