Brazilian government renews footwear incentive programme
Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, has signed a contract renewing the government’s Export Incentive Programme for the Footwear Sector. The programme – which has already been running for two years – aims to increase footwear exports by 11% in 2005.
It is hoped that through the programme at least 1,100 jobs will be created in the industry over the next few years,and that the number of companies in the domestic industry will also rise.
The Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex) will oversee the project that will receive over $9.3 million in government and private investment.
The Brazilian footwear sector enjoyed its best year in over a decade in 2004, producing over 700 million pairs of footwear of which 200 million pairs were exported. Exports rose 15% to reach $1.8 billion, which is forecast to rise to $2 billion in 2005.
