Data prepared by the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados) indicates that, between January and August, shoe exports totaled 82.28 million pairs, which generated US$ 823.15 million, drops of 15.7% in volume and 6.6% in revenue related to the same period last year. Considering only the month of August, exports were 9.34 million pairs and US$ 95.6 million, drops of 12.8% and 18.6% compared to the same month of 2022. Before the pre-pandemic, between January and August 2019, the sector still registers positive indices, of 9.2% in volume and 26.7% in revenue.

The CEO of Abicalçados, Haroldo Ferreira, points out that the slowdown in the international economy, coupled with high interest rates and cooling demand in important countries for Brazilian footwear, such as the United States, has a direct impact on the indices. “We expect some improvement in the last months of the year, but even so we should close 2023 with indices between 6.7% and 9.1% lower than those registered in 2022 (in pairs)”, projects the leader, stressing that, even with the result, the indices will be above those registered in the pre-pandemic, in 2019.

Destinations
Even representing payments due to the measure of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) that changed the conditions of access to the Single Foreign Exchange Market for payment of imports, causing delays of up to six months in payments, Argentina remains the main destination for Brazilian footwear abroad. Between January and August, 10.76 million were shipped there for US$ 168 million, a decrease of 8.1% in volume and an increase of 32% in revenue compared to the same period last year. "Argentina, despite the internal economic crisis and changes in access to the foreign exchange market, which has been harming our exports there, is a captive market for our footwear,” Ferreira said.

The United States, second destination for Brazilian footwear abroad, has also been affected by the drop in demand and historical interest, which has impacted green-yellow exports there. Between January and August, 7.34 million pairs were shipped to the United States for US$ 161 million, down 48.8% in volume and 34.6% in revenue compared to the corresponding period last year.

The third destination of the eight months of the year was France. Between January and August, 2.1 million pairs were shipped there for US$ 39.1 million, a decrease of 58.7% in volume and 10.5% in revenue compared to the same period in 2022.

RS: largest exporter
Rio Grande do Sul remains the largest footwear exporter in Brazil. Between January and August, the Gaucho factories shipped 24.63 million for US$ 378.7 million, down 15.5% in volume and 8.5% in revenue compared to the same period last year.

The second largest exporter in the period was Ceará, from where 24.9 million pairs left for US$ 184.96 million, a decrease of 12.8% in volume and an increase of 1.6% in revenue in relation to the first eight months of 2022.

Next, among the exporting states, São Paulo appeared (5.33 million pairs and US$ 77 million, decreases of 24.4% and 14.6%, respectively) and Bahia (2.87 million pairs and US$ 58.9 million, a 7.8% decrease in volume and an increase of 27.7% in relation to 2022).