Exchange rate variations have sharply changed the panorama of the Brazilian footwear exports in recent years. With a sharp drop in sales to the United States, registered since 2017, Argentina has now taken, for the first time, the first place among the destinations for Brazilian footwear.

In the first quarter of 2018, Argentina was the destiantion of 2.4 million pairs of Brazilian shoes, with a total value of 39.14 million US dollars, up by 14.4% and by 9.8%, respectively.

Heitor Klein, Executive President of Abicalçados, the Brazilian Shoe Manufacturers Association, estimates that the appreciation of the Brazilian real against the US dollar, which could intensify during the year, has had a significant impact on exports and he ads: "With the trend of falling dollar continuing or intensifying even more during the year, we will have significant problems in exports".

The United States have been the main destination for Brazilian exports since the late 60's: this market, very price sensitive, has been decreasing the purchased from Brazil since 2017, and was surpassed by Argentina in the first quarter of 2018. In fact, this occurs after exports of Brazilian footwear have fallen by 14% last year (in both pairs and values). In the first quarter, the US bought 2.8 million pairs, paying 37.13 million US dollars for it, resulting in declines of 11.5% in volume and 22.6% in value, compared to similar period of 2017.

The third destination was France, to where 2.76 million pairs were exported with total value of 18.26 million US dollars, up by 52.4% and 19.3%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. However, "France imports, basically, slippers and injected Brazilians, products of lower value added and therefore with less impact on the trade balance", comments Klein.

In overall terms, between January and March, Brazilian footwear exports reached 30.47 million pairs, which generated 250.12 million US dollars, down by 2.7% in volume and by 3.4% in revenue, compared to similar period in 2017.
 
More information about Brazil and the main footwear markets available at the latest edition of the World Footwear Yearbook (available here).