Clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh for Brazilian brands

Duty: 35% under the Mercosur tariff

Brazil applies Mercosur’s common external tariff, which runs from zero to 35%, and standard clothing such as t-shirts, jeans and suits sits at the top of that range. Bangladesh has no trade agreement with Brazil or Mercosur, so its garments pay the full rate.

The same 35% applies to the other large Asian origins, so Bangladesh competes with China, India and Vietnam on equal duty terms. The disadvantage is against Mercosur members themselves, whose goods move within the bloc duty-free.

How the import taxes stack

The import duty is only the first layer. The Industrialised Products Tax (IPI) is charged at the rate set for the product in Brazil’s TIPI table, on the customs value plus duty. PIS and COFINS on imports add 11.75% combined under the standard regime, charged on the customs value alone, and clothing (chapters 61 to 63) pays an additional COFINS of 0.6 percentage points in 2026, which unlike the base rates cannot be taken as a credit (the law sets 0.4 for 2027, the year the CBS is due to replace COFINS). Then the state charges ICMS, typically between 17% and 20% for most products depending on the destination state, and it is calculated “por dentro”: the tax is included in its own base, so the effective rate is higher than the headline one.

Because IPI is charged on the customs value plus duty, and ICMS on a base that includes the duty, IPI, PIS, COFINS and the ICMS itself, the total tax on a garment is far more than 35%. Model it with a Brazilian customs broker for your state before you set retail prices.

Brazil’s tax reform

Brazil is replacing its consumption taxes with a dual VAT. After a test year in 2026, the federal CBS replaces PIS and COFINS from 2027, when IPI also falls to zero for most products. The state and municipal IBS then replaces ICMS and ISS gradually, with the transition complete in 2033. The import duty itself is not part of the reform.

For an importer, the practical point is that the tax lines on your landed cost will change during the life of a supplier relationship. Ask your broker which regime applies on the date your goods clear, rather than relying on last year’s calculation.

Register as an importer: RADAR

Every import into Brazil is declared through Siscomex, and a company needs RADAR registration with the Federal Revenue Service, plus a valid digital certificate for its legal representative, to use it. RADAR comes in levels, and the limited one caps imports at US$50,000 or US$150,000 per six months, so check that yours covers the value of the orders you plan.

Labels: Inmetro Portaria 118/2021

Textile labelling in Brazil is governed by Inmetro Ordinance 118 of 11 March 2021. It applies to products made at least 80% of textile fibres by mass and requires permanent, wash-resistant labels in Portuguese showing the fibre composition, the name or registered trademark and the CNPJ of the responsible company, the country of origin, the size and care instructions. Importers are responsible for the content.

Send us the label text, including your CNPJ, with the tech pack; the labels are made and sewn in at the factory so the goods arrive ready for sale.

Shipping and seasons

Brazilian orders ship by sea from Chattogram with transshipment, usually to Santos, on one of the longer routes from Bangladesh. The seasons are reversed, so an autumn–winter range for Brazil ships during the northern spring. Build the transit and the clearance time into your calendar from the start.

A two-way trade built on cotton

UN Comtrade records US$282 million of Brazilian imports from Bangladesh in 2025, US$133 million knitted and US$119 million woven apparel, and US$2.72 billion of Brazilian exports to Bangladesh the same year, led by sugar at US$874 million and cotton at US$815 million. Bangladeshi spinning mills are among the largest buyers of Brazilian cotton, so a Brazilian brand sourcing t-shirts in Bangladesh may well be buying back its own country’s fibre as finished garments.

That relationship is why both governments talk about a trade deal: in July 2025 the president of Brazil’s central bank told Bangladesh’s ambassador that Brazil would send a draft memorandum of understanding as the basis for a possible agreement, and the ambassador put bilateral trade above US$4 billion a year. Nothing has changed the 35% Mercosur duty yet, and this page will say so when it does.

Working with us from Brazil

Brazil is nine hours behind Bangladesh. Goods ship by sea from Chattogram to Santos or Itajaí, one of the longer routings we plan; we quote FOB Chattogram or DDP to your warehouse, in US dollars, and you can ask for the 35% duty and the federal and state taxes to be listed on the quote so your despachante can check the landed cost line by line.

• Factory named before production, with its address, audit report and Accord status
• Portuguese-language label to Inmetro Portaria 118/2021 approved on the pre-production sample
• Cotton origin records to request from the mill where a Brazilian-cotton story matters to your brand
• Quality checks on the line and the AQL final inspection report, then invoice, packing list, transport document and origin documents