Brazilian Foreign Trade In Textiles And Clothing And Chinese Competition: An Analysis Of Export Competitiveness In Selected States From 1997 To 2017

The objective of this work is to evaluate the relationship between competitiveness in the textile and clothing sector, through import proxies and difficulty in entering the market, with the sector’s exports. Initially, the analysis of the competitiveness of the textile and clothing sector is based on the use of revealed comparative advantage and regionally oriented indices. To investigate Brazilian exports in the textile and clothing sector, an econometric exercise was carried out with panel data. As an empirical strategy, a data panel was constructed considering the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District. The time cut given for this research comprised the years from 1997 to 2018, given the availability of data for all the variables described and necessary to achieve the proposed objective. The results of the work corroborate with previous studies that showed that competition from China with Brazil has become increasingly intense. And facing this competition at a time when China is the world’s leading producer of textiles and clothing, is certainly a major challenge for the Brazilian economy. These results reinforce the need to promote the internationalization of companies in the productive states, in order to add value to the products produced, which in most cases are only sold between states, often competing more for price than for quality. Thus, with the investment in exports of textiles and clothing, a scenario is created that can favor the competitiveness of these products.