São Paulo – Brazilian footwear exports to the United Arab Emirates grew 29.4% in revenue from January to July this year, according to information released by the Brazilian Footwear Industry (Abicalçados). Revenues with sales to the Arab country reached US$ 10.1 million, compared with US$ 7.8 million in the same period last year. In contrast, sales to the Saudis declined 21% to US$ 9.8 million.
"The Emirates has taken a leading role in the shoe trade, it is are a modern import and distribution platform to other Gulf countries, while serving as an image platform," says Abicalçados Project Coordinator Cristiano Körbes. According to him, the growth of the retail market in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is remarkable and favours the opening of Brazilian shops and franchises.
In Saudi Arabia, in turn, according Körbes, Brazilian brands operate largely through distributors. "They are more likely to reduce their orders at the first sign of crisis," he says. The coordinator, however, recalled that the Arab world is an increasingly important destination for the Brazilian footwear industry and added that footwear consumption has been growing in the region. "Those countries are traditionally importers, they manufacture very little of what they consume, and are very satisfied what Brazil has to offer," says Körbes.
The Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the Arab countries among the top twenty destinations for Brazilian footwear abroad. The Emirates is in 16th position and Saudi comes in 17th, if we take into account the sales revenue for each. The volume of footwear bought by the Saudis from January to July, however, was higher than purchases by the Emirates. Shipments to Saudi Arabia totalled 959,800 pairs and shipments to the Emirates, 695 300 pairs. The volume grew 21.2% to the Emirates and fell 9% to Saudi.
This difference in volume and revenue is due to the fact that the average price per pair sold by Brazil to the Saudis is US$ 10.24, while shipments to the Emirates go for US$ 14.67 a pair. That is, Brazilian footwear exported to the Emirates is more expensive. These two values, however, are above the average price of Brazilian footwear exports in the first seven months of the year, US$ 9.04.
Brazilian footwear exports as a whole remained stable in the period from January to July, as against the same months in 2012. Revenues from international sales totalled US$ 628 million. The volume shipped rose 10.7% to 69.5 million pairs. In July alone, there was 25.4% growth in the number of pairs, 9.4 million, and a 4.9% drop in revenues, to US$ 92 million.
*Translated by Mark Ament
