After recent announcements from Brazil and Argentina on increasing to 35% tariffs on footwear imports from China, the industry in Uruguay is calling for similar measures there.

Brazil announced the tariff increase at the end of April to protect the local footwear industry against what finance minister, Guido Mantega, called “unequal competition”. Argentina’s aim in introducing a similar measure was to close its trade deficit with China, and to encourage its Asian trading partner to make its domestic market easier for Argentinian exporters to penetrate.

The secretary of the Uruguayan Chamber of Footwear Industries, Daniel Tournier, told local media that he wanted the government in Montevideo to take the same action. “It would be good if Uruguay followed suit,” he said. “It wouldn’t halt imports [from China] but it would give local producers a little more breathing space.”

He explained that 79% of footwear imports into Uruguay are from China and that the average price per pair of shoes has been decreasing steadily for a number of years. In 1994, the average price of a pair of imported shoes was US$4.95. This has now fallen to around $2.10, twice as cheap as the price in Brazil and in most other countries in South America.

“China is killing us on price,” Mr Tournier added, “because, there, labour is almost no cost at all. If the Uruguayan government won’t support us, it would be better if they told us they see no need for Uruguay to have a footwear production industry. Then all our manufacturers could simply go and set up in Brazil.”

He said various state governments in Brazil had already presented offers to his member companies, inviting them to move their production sites across the border, offering tax incentives, bank credits and even help with moving costs.