Chile’s textile sector is continuing to shrink, as the country’s booming economy is dependent on cheap imports to meet consumer demand. Chile’s oldest textile firm, Bellavisa Ovesa Tome that specializes in suit fabrics, has announced it will halt operations, having filed for bankruptcy in November 2007. Despite these conditions, Chilean spinners expanded inventories before the recent explosion in cotton prices. August through November 2007 cumulative cotton imports increased 36.6 percent from the previous year to 23,655 480-pound bales. The bulk of these imports came from Brazil and the U.S., with imports from Brazil up three-fold from a year ago at 9,188 480-pound bales and imports from the U.S. at 12,297 bales.