Brazil Beats China to Become 7th Largest Software Market

Brazil has overtaken China to become the seventh largest domestic IT market in the world, according to a survey conducted by the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES). The country’s information technology market has now reached $24.9 billion.

According to the report, Brazil jumped three positions over the past two years, overtaking China, Australia and Italy. Software sales rose by 53.5% in 2012 to reach $9.48 billion, after growing by 28% in the previous year. Brazil’s IT services sector also grew by 16% to reach $15.44 billion.

Despite the high growth, the report notes that a vast majority of computer programs are still being developed outside the country by foreign companies. The big IT suppliers in Brazil are Microsoft and the German technology giant SAP.

However, this is not the case in the IT services sector. The report states that 88% of the IT services are provided by companies operating within Brazil, with the finance (25%) and telecom (24.8%) sectors being the main consumers of IT services.

Brazil was less successful in exporting IT services, earning just $2.24 billion from software and IT services exports in 2012.

Another problem facing the country is the growing rate of piracy, which is blocking the growth of the software sector. In 2011, more than 50% of software sold in Brazil were pirated. A campaign against illegal software sales led to the removal of 20,600 ads selling pirated software on the internet.