São Paulo – Footwear exports from Brazil grossed USD 967 million in 2019. According to figures made public this Thursday (9) by the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados), 114.55 million pairs of shoes were shipped. The figures show a 0.9% decline in revenue and a 0.9% increase in volume from 2018.
In December 2019, 10.34 million pairs of shoes were sold abroad for USD 80.73 million, down by 21% in volume and 17.2% in revenue year on year.
The United States, Argentina, and France remain the main importers. The United Arab Emirates are the 14th largest destination. The only Arab country listed, they bought 1.67 million pairs of shoes for USD 12.04 million up 60.1% in volume and 17.7% in revenue from the previous year. In an interview with ANBA last month, Abicalçados chairman Haroldo Ferreira said that exports to the Arab world has grown each year.
Ferreira was quoted as saying in a press release that the general result pointed to a heavy influence of the exchange rate in the period. With a dollar 10% more expensive than the previous year, the footwear manufacturer industry managed to offer more competitive prices in the foreign market. “If we convert to real, 2019 exports revenue was 7% higher than 2018,” he said.
The yearly result was also impacted by the US market, which imported more footwear from Brazil to avoid the tax load of the Chinese footwear due to the US-China trade war. In 2019, the top destination of footwear from Brazil imported 11.9 million pairs of shoes for USD 197.5 million, up 10.5% and 18.4% year on year respectively.
But the second largest foreign destination of Brazilian shoe drove the average down. With its economic crisis, in 2019 Argentina imported 10 million pairs of shoes for USD 105.2 million, down 15% and 24.7% year on year respectively.
The third main destination was France, importing 7.9 million pairs of shoes for USD 60.42 million, up 7.8% and 6.2% respectively from 2018.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
