São Paulo – Footwear exports from Brazil are expected to climb 21.2% next year, while production should grow by 19% year on year, the Brazilian Footwear Industry Association (Abicalçados) forecasts. This won’t be a growth, actually, but a resumption in the industry, which has been strongly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Year to date through November, exports were down by 19.4%. From January through October, output was down by 27%, and and the decline is estimated to reach 25% by the end of the year.
The year of 2020 was one of struggle for the Brazilian footwear industry. Strongly reliant on the domestic market, which accounts for 85% of the industry’s sales, the sector saw its output plummet, as per figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The decrease in the manufactured volume will make the industry return to its production levels of 16 years ago, around 650 million pairs, which was greatly influenced by exports.
In a press release, Abicalçados CEO Haroldo Ferreira said the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the footwear industry, which is expected to end the year at 250 million less pairs produced and 20,000 jobs less jobs. “There’s a recovery trend seen in the last months of 2020. That’s the trend for the beginning of the year, considering the vaccination and the normalization of the physical commerce,” he said. However, Ferreira points out that the industry will only go back to 2019 levels in 2022.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
