Brazil’s footwear exports were up 15% on the year before during the period January-May 2004, to $707 million, the country’s footwear manufacturing association (Abicalçaldos) has advised.  In May alone, shipments were up 9% on the year-before, to $129 million. In announcing the figures, Abicalçaldos vice-president Ricardo Wirth said that weakening of the Brazilian real against the dollar, to more than R$3.00/dollar would only be felt from September onwards, when foreign orders start arriving for the following season. 

Mr Wirth also noted high levels of interest in Brazilian made footwear components and accessories at last week’s Shoes and Leather Guangzhou 2004 trade fair in China, especially with regard to industrial brushes and leather chemicals. Chinese imports of Brazilian footwear components totalled in 2003, a 129% increase on the year-before.  The 2004 figure is expected to grow further in the wake of a recent Brazilian trade mission to the country, headed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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