Mantega hopes to receive approval from the World Trade Organization (WTO) within three months for a new tax regime based on the weight of imported textiles rather than declared value, reported newspaper Valor Economico.
"If prices are underreported, the tax is useless. I've heard about suits arriving in Brazil valued at three dollars. That wouldn't even buy you a button," said Mantega at a late Tuesday event, according to Valor.
Finance ministry officials were not immediately available to comment on Wednesday morning.
The proposed rescue for Brazil's clothing makers follows a tax hike on imported cars, as policymakers seek to protect local industry from a flagging global economy that has worsened a sharp domestic slowdown.
Fellow WTO countries could take issue with the taxation of manufactured goods by weight, a practice far more common in the international commodity trade.
Other members of President Dilma Rousseff's cabinet are still evaluating the proposal, according to newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo. Mantega said the government is also preparing measures to protect unspecified other industrial sectors, the paper reported.
Brazil's textile production plunged around 15 percent in the 12 months through October, according to government statistics agency IBGE, suffering from the impact of high international cotton prices and imports boosted by a stronger local currency. (Reuters)
