Brazil’s shoe exports fall 10% in 2018

According to the Brazilian Shoe Manufacturers Association (Abicalçados), Brazil’s footwear export volumes fell 10.8% in 2018 compared with the previous year, with a total of 113.47m pairs shipped, generating revenues of US$976m in 2018 (10.5% year-on-year decline. There was a YoY drop in shoe exports every month of last year, except April.

The combined effects of the currency fluctuations due to political uncertainty, a 10-day truckers strike in May, increased production costs and inflated interest rates from the US, the leading export destination, all conspired to cause footwear exports to be lower than expected last year.  Expectations for this year are that exports will recover, especially to the US market as Brazil benefits from the trade war it currently has with China.

Meanwhile, shoe imports rose 11.8% last year to 26.6m pairs, with import expenditure up 2.2% YoY at US$347.55m. DataLiner data shows the main import origins for footwear to be Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.

Top footwear (HS Code 64) import origins | Jan to Nov 2016-2018 (TEU)

Supporting sources:

https://menafn.com/1097962645/Shoe-exports-declined-10-in-2018

Shoe exports declined 10% in 2018

(MENAFN – Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)) São Paulo ‒ Brazilian shoes exports fell more than 10% in 2018, declining every month aside from April, according to the Brazilian Association of Shoe Manufacturer (Abicalçados) report published this Thursday (10). A total of 113.47 million pairs have been shipped, amounting to USD 976 million during the period, a 10.8% declined in volume and a 10.5% decline in revenue compared to 2017.

Only in December, exports reached 13 million pairs and USD 97.6 million in revenue, a 24.3% drop in volume and a 16.5% in revenue over December of last year.

Abicalçados president Heitor Klein stated that currency fluctuations caused by Brazilian election period and the increase on American interest rates harmed the exports during the period, in addition to the truckers strike in Brazil in May and the high costs of production.

“From this year on, however, having a safer scenery for exports agents, we should obtain increases,” said the association president, according to the release, highlighting that there are good expectations for recovery, specially to the American market. “Because of the trade war between the United States and China, there is a trend to replace Asian shoe imports in that country,” reported Klein.

Main Markets

The United States were the only country among the three main foreign destinations of Brazilian shoes to show a positive balance in December of 2018, having bought 2.17 million pairs for USD 25 million, a 51% increase in volume and a 26.8% increase in revenue over the same month of 2017. Over the year, the United States bought 10.76 million pairs for USD 166.78 million, down by 5% in volume and a 12.2% in dollars over last year.

The second largest international buyer was Argentina, importing 418,000 Brazilian pairs for USD 5.24 million in December 2018, down by 47.3% in pairs and 28.5% in revenue comparing to December of 2017. The accumulated of the year resulted in 1.8 million pairs for USD 139.38 million sold to Argentines, a 2% growth in volume and a 5.2% drop in revenue over last year. “Argentina started to reduce their imports of Brazilian shoes over the last months of 2017, specially because of their domestic crisis and a sharp devaluation of Argentine peso over the dollar, increasing the dollar prices,” assessed Klein.

France was the third largest importer of Brazilian shoes in 2018, having bought 910,800 pairs for USD 6.53 million in December, a 47.3% in volume and 28.5% in revenue compared to same month of 2017. Over the year, the French bought 7.34 million pairs, generating USD 57 million, a 5.7% in volume and a 2.5% decline in revenue over 2017.

Imports on the Rise

Purchases of imported shoes grew last year. A total of 26.6 million pairs entered Brazil for USD 347.55 million, an 11.8% increase in volume and a 2.2% one in revenue over 2017. The main sellers were the Asian countries Vietnam, Indonesia and China

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