Brazil: languishing leather and flourishing footwear
SECEX, Brazil’s Secretariat for Foreign Trade, has revealed that the country’s leather exports for May declined by 8.5% compared to the same month of 2021, reaching $109.2 million. In volume terms, exports fell by 26.2% to 11.2 million square-metres, compared to May 2021.
The cumulative total so far for 2022 is $551.8 million in terms of the value, down by 1.6% compared to the first five months of 2021. Volume exported for the same period of this year was 60.2 million square-metres, down by 21.9% compared to the same period in 2021. China, the US and Italy were the major buyers.
The contrast with footwear exports for the same period is clear. The Brazilian Footwear Association (Abicalçados) has reported that in the first five months of 2022, Brazil exported 64.2 million pairs, with a value of $538.7 million. This performance is up by 30.3% in volume and by 66.5% in revenue on an annual basis. In May alone, shipments totaled 10.5 million pairs worth $104 million, up 19.8% and 59.5% respectively on the fifth month of 2021.
Haroldo Ferreira, executive president of Abicalçados, has explained that the increase in exports to the US continues to be decisive. Between January and May, Brazilian shoe factories shipped 10 million pairs there, valued at $146.3 million. This translated to increases in volume and revenue by of 87.2% and 108.6% respectively on an annual basis.
