Apex-Brasil and Abit sign new agreement for Texbrasil

This Thursday, December 4, in São Paulo, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit) executed their eighth agreement to maintain Texbrasil (Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program), for a term of 24 months, from December 2014 to November 2016. This new stage includes implementation of new strategies on the following fronts: building better relations with companies, directed communication, intensification of customized support and of corporate development and innovation activities, and new initiatives geared towards end consumers and buyers.

The agreement establishes investments of BRL 45.6 million, combining Agency investments and the investment by industry companies, to promote positioning and internationalization of the Brazilian fashion industry. This amount is expected to help the project to exceed its excellent performance in the 2013/2014 two-year term. Execution of the agreement is on the agenda for the Abit board of directors meeting, which takes place at the organization’s headquarters. The event will be attended by the President of Apex-Brasil, Mauricio Borges, by the CEO of Abit, Rafael Cervone, and by the Superintendent, Fernando Pimentel. “One of the main features of this new agreement is customization of projects to meet the specific needs of each profile of member company, with a significant focus on technology, design, innovation and sustainability to set the Brazilian product apart in the world,” says Borges.

There are currently 272 companies taking part in Texbrasil, accounting for 64.8% of Brazilian textile and apparel industry exports, totaling USD 721 million for the period between May 2013 and September 2014; the final figure, which has yet to be released, is expected to reach USD 806 million by the close in November. “The 2013/2014 term was positive and we were able to exceed the target, which we had set at USD 613 million. This is the result of the effort to restructure the Program in order to continue to drive the market, keeping closer tabs on companies so as to understand and comprehend their individual needs,” says Rafael Cervone, CEO of Abit.

In the agreement, the Commercial and Competitive Intelligence Unit of Apex-Brasil, in partnership with Abit, chose 11 target countries from among the Program’s target markets, which were split into primary and secondary markets. The former includes countries that will need more focused prospecting, promotion and image efforts. This group includes Bolivia and the Middle East (apparel), China (textiles and apparel), Peru, Mexico and the United States (textiles, apparel and home fabrics). While secondary markets are classified as such not because they are less important, but because they represent countries where Brazilian companies have already have a relevant export effort which should be intensified. They are: Argentina and Colombia (textiles) and France, the United Kingdom and Japan (apparel).

Partnership
The Texbrasil Program was created in 2000 with the goal of organizing Brazilian companies to supply textile and apparel products in the international market. In 14 years of partnership between Apex-Brasil and ABIT, eight agreements have been signed, with investments of BRL 301.5 million, creating USD 3.6 billion in business volume.