Footwear exports continue to rise in October

Data prepared by ABICALCADOS (the Brazilian shoe manufacturers’ association) show that footwear exports continue to rise. In month ten, 12.85 million pairs were shipped, generating US$ 93.96 million, increases of 23.3% and 69.6%, respectively, compared to the same month in 2020.

It is the first month of 2021 that has recorded increases in volume and revenue compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019 (+15.9% in volume and +7.2% in dollars). Thus, in the ten months of the year, exports totaled 99 million pairs, generating US$ 712.4 million, increases of 32.2% in volume and 30.7% in revenue compared to the same period of 2020. In comparison with the accumulated result for the same period of 2019, footwear exports are 2.7% higher in volume and 13.2% lower in dollars. Also according to the ABICALCADOS report, the pre-pandemic level of Brazilian footwear exports has already been surpassed in 95 destination countries.

The executive president of ABICALCADOS Haroldo Ferreira points out that October registered the best month in 2021 for Brazilian footwear exports. Another relevant fact, according to him, is that growth was driven by leather shoes, which increased 6.5% in dollars and 15.9% in volume compared to October 2019, gaining share in the export basket. “They are shoes with greater added value, so when we increase their percentage share of exports, we generate expressive results”, he comments.

During the period, the main destination for Brazilian footwear abroad continued to be the United States. Between January and October, 11.75 million pairs were shipped to the US for US$ 177.6 million, up 51.5% in volume and 50.4% in revenue compared to the first ten months of last year.

The second destination of 2021 is Argentina. During the period, 10.76 million pairs were exported to the neighboring country, which generated US$ 92.4 million, increases of 71.5% in volume and 53.69% in revenue compared to the corresponding period of 2020.

The third most popular destination in 2021 was France. In the ten months, the French imported 6.17 million pairs, for which US$ 50.3 million were paid, increases of 10.3% in volume and 9.7% in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Imports from China already account for 30% of the total

Even though total imports are declining over the ten months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020 – they fell 5.3% in volume (to 17.56 million pairs) and 3.7% in dollars ( to US$ 251.63 million) –  the consecutive increase in footwear imports from China has been worrying the Brazilian footwear sector. In October, 309,000 pairs of Chinese shoes entered Brazil, for which US$ 2.8 million were paid, with increases of 62.5% in volume and 8.6% in revenue compared to the same month last year. The increase in imports from the Asian giant in the last year caused the Chinese to increase their representation in Brazilian footwear imports from 15% to 30%.

In the accumulated result for the ten months, more than 6 million pairs of shoes made in China were imported, for which US$ 29.23 million were paid, an increase of 6% in dollars and a drop of 5.7% in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Vietnam (7 million pairs and US$ 137.8 million, drops of 16.2% and 9.3% in the comparison between the YTD figures for 2021 and 2020) and Indonesia ( 2.2 million pairs and US$ 41.45 million, drops of 13.8% and 0.4%, respectively) complete the ranking of footwear import sources.

In general, footwear imports between January and October totaled US$ 251.63 million for 17.5 million pairs, a decrease of 9.4% in revenue and 24% in volume compared to the same period last year.

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