Argentina finished 2016 with a 6.2% decline in shoe consumption
20/03/2017
The government of President Mauricio Macri, who was elected in November 2015, received early criticism from the country’s leather and footwear sectors for a strategy aimed at “opening up” the Argentinean economy and making it easier for importers to bring in shoes and other products from overseas. Nevertheless, Argentina’s main footwear industry association, CIC, has said its relationship with the government is good and that it is more concerned about a slump in consumer spending on shoes than about imports.
CIC president, Alberto Sellaro, said in recent comments that his organisation has a good relationship with production minister, Francisco Cabrera. “Cabrera has a team full of young people, and they are very pleasant,” Mr Sellaro recently told local media. “They’re very responsive. But the government needs to pay careful attention to the issues that are affecting businesses.”
He listed the decline in sales as the most important of these, as far as the 2,300 companies (mostly small) involved in footwear production in Argentina at the moment and their 45,000 employees. He said he would be happy for Argentina to produce the same number of shoes in 2017 as it did in 2016, 114 million pairs.
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