The United States of America has always been Brazil's main footwear import market but Brazilian shoes are conquering new markets all the time. Among these are eleven Middle Eastern and African countries that are buying Brazilian shoes on a regular basis.
Last year, Brazil exported 2.5 million pairs to the Middle East. Although these figures are quite small compared with the industry’s total export of 188 million pairs in 2003, they are gradually growing.
The United Arab Emirates imported 1.2 million pairs from Brazil last year, generating $8.1 million, a 198% increase on the previous year. Saudi Arabia imported one million pairs of Brazilian shoes, an increase of 130%. These two countries were Brazil's largest shoe buyers among Arab countries. Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania are also buyers of Brazilian footwear.
Childrens and teens shoe manufacturer Klin, of Birigüi in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, is one of the companies selling to the Arab countries. It has customers in 60 countries, of which eight are in the Middle East.
"Commercial relations with those countries started in 1997 in fairs and other European events,” comments Fabio Chalita, responsible for the company's Export Division/Middle East. “Today, we export a large slice of our production to those countries."
At the time of its foundation in 1983, Klin was producing an average of 15 pairs per day. At present, it produces 45,000 pairs/day and employs almost 5,000 people.
