According to Heitor Klein, President of Abicalçados, the Brazilian Footwear Association, this decline was already expected despite the recovery recorded in September. Currency fluctuations, macroeconomic factors and the country’s economic and political instability are synonymous of future uncertainty. “Exporting levels should improve later in the year and especially in the first half of 2016", Mr. Klein anticipates.

With an average price of 7.06 US dollars per pair, exports of footwear in the month of October generated 71.3 million US dollars, down by 12.8% from the previous month (81.8 million US dollars). Compared to similar period in 2015, footwear exports were down in October by 16.1%.

In October, Spain deserves a special highlight as destination market. Acquisitions of Brazilian shoes by that European country grew by 872% over the same period last year. While in 2014 purchases totaled 132 000 US dollars, shipments in October totaled 1.3 million.

Accumulated exports’ revenue between January and October, totaled 766.1 million US dollars, 12.4% below similar period last year.

For the first ten months of 2015, the main destination of the Brazilian footwear were the US with shipments of 8.8 million pairs, valued at 148.5 million US dollars. Argentina followed in the top of main destinations for footwear, with exports to the neighbour country reaching 7.1 million pairs and 59.8 million US dollars, 19.2% below similar period in 2014. In the third position is France, which bought 6.3 million pairs for 42.7 million US dollars, 17.9% less than in the same period in 2014.

For the full year, the United Arab Emirates continue to be an extremely dynamic market for Brazilian footwear. The Arab country imported 1.6 million pairs, worthing 18.1 million US dollars, up 20.4% over 2014 (15.1 million US dollars). The country is one of the target markets of Brazilian Footwear, an exports support program maintained by the Brazilian Agency for Export and Investment Promotion (Apex-Brazil).