Brazil has imposed safeguards against certain Chinese imports including footwear and textiles, in an attempt to protect the country’s most important manufacturing sectors. Resolution 5.556 was signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and published in the Official Journal on October 6, enabling industrial sectors that feel threatened by Chinese imports to request specific measures to protect the domestic industry. However the safeguards will not be implemented automatically and each sector must apply for protection.

Following this announcement, Abicalçados – the Brazilian Association of Footwear Manufacturers –has stated that it will request that the local Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade takes the necessary steps to protect the Brazilian shoe industry from imports from China which increased 130% from January to August 2005. The association fears that if nothing is done to stop imports, 25 million pairs of Chinese footwear will be imported into Brazil by the end of the year, which equates to 20% of Brazil’s footwear imports.

In 2004, Brazil imported 7.2 million pairs of shoes from China, yet in the first seven months of 2005 alone, imports had already reached 9.4 million. Comparing the January-August period in 2004 and 2005, imports increased 60% in financial terms and in August alone, Brazil imported one million pairs from China compared with 595,000 pairs in the same month a year earlier – an increase of 81%.