Member companies of Sindmóveis and also the members of the Orchestra Brasil project increased their exports in 2012. From January to December, the export value of furniture reached US$ 63.03 million, which represents an increase of 4.4% over the previous year. The last quarter of 2012 saw a 5% drop compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, and was responsible for decreasing the result that had been higher in the first nine months of the year. Still, the performance of the furniture industry in Bento Gonçalves is higher than in the state and country – which had a growth of 1.1% and a drop of 5.2%, respectively. Colombia became the main market in 2012, with a growth of 3.3% over the year 2011. The list of the six major markets includes Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Argentina and Angola. Together, these six countries accounted for 60% of all furniture exports from the local furniture industry. Although Argentina ranks fifth, it totaled a decrease of 30.6% in the year. Exports by the companies participating in the Orchestra Brasil project a partnership between Sindmóveis and Apex-Brasil grew by 15.5% in 2012 compared to the previous year, taking into account the data accumulated from January to November. The initiative has the participation of manufacturers of inputs, components, technologies and design service for the furniture sector. The growth is even more impressive when compared with the results of Brazilian exports in general of the same products, which totaled 2.4%. The United States became the main market of the project, growing 50.3% over 2011. Argentina, the biggest market until 2011, now ranks second, with a drop of 2.1% from January to November. The growth of the other priority markets accounted for 65% of total exports by the companies of the project: Chile (48.8%), Mexico (34.5%), Peru (35.8%), Paraguay (0.1%) and Uruguay (0.3%). Sales to Colombia fell by 3.1% in the period. The main decrease happened in Europe, where exports from the member companies of the Orchestra Brasil Project fell by 25.9% from January-November over the same period in the previous year.
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