From the beginning of the year, Brazilian footwear exports to the USA have arrived at 5.6 million pairs, for a value equal to 84.76 million dollars, with a respective increase of 31.2% in quantity and 43.4% in value.

According to Heitor Klein, outgoing President of the Brazilian association, “The USA is replacing its suppliers and starting to source from other countries. The Brazilian market – he adds – is completely prepared to absorb a large part of the American demand. Over the last five months, Chinese sales to the United States have fallen by more than 70%”.

Generally speaking, the beginning of the year was positive for Brazilian footwear: exports for the first five months of 2019 arrived at 52 million pairs, for a value of 415.24 million dollars, up +11% in volume and +3.7% in value compared to the same period of the previous year. According to Heitor Klein, the improved performance can be attributed not only to the uptrend in exports to the USA, but also to the appreciation of the dollar that makes the Brazilian product more competitive on foreign markets.

While the American market grows, the second destination for Brazilian footwear, Argentina, does not present an exactly optimistic picture, recording +28.3% in volume and -40.4% in value during the first five months of the year: “The cause of this can be attributed to the crisis in the domestic market – comments Heitor Klein – and also to the decline in foreign-exchange reserves”.

The third destination for Brazilian footwear exports, Bolivia, in the same period recorded quantities more or less unchanged at -0.1% and values on the rise by +8.1%.

Instead, imports from January to May 2019 have been calculated at 13.88 million pairs for a value of 154.1 million dollars, which is a respective rise of +5.4% and +0.4%. The main countries from which Brazil imports in order of importance are Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.