During the month of July the Brazilian footwear industry exported 9.5 million pairs of shoes, valued at 80 million US dollars. A value slightly above the amount registered in the previous month (78.5 million US dollars) but still 7.2% below the value of exports in similar month in 2014.

For the period January – July footwear exports reached 65.6 million pairs of shoes with a global value of 544 million US dollars (10.6% below the same period in 2014).

According to Heitor Klein, President of Abicalçados (Brazilian Footwear Association), the higher US dollar is still not impacting the value of exports, but he is expecting good progress for the last quarter with the delivery of the spring-summer orders to the buyers. He stated: “Contracts are closed in advance of three or more months, so the products being delivered to the buyers weren’t negotiated with the highest levels of the US dollar”, he stated.

Bearing this in mind Mr. Klein is expecting to close the year with an important recovery for footwear exports. He believes that alongside the dollar effect, the economic recovery in some of the most important markets for the Brazilian footwear and the positive contribution of the participation in international trade fairs, such GDS (Germany) and IFLS / Colombiamoda (Colombia) will contribute to that. "We had positive participation in these fairs, and even ahead important international exhibitions such as theMicam, Italy, and the FN Platform in the United States", stated Heitor Klein.

Between January and July this year, the main destination for Brazilian shoes was the US to where 6.0 million pairs were shipped, generating 106.2 million US dollars (0.9% less than in similar period last year).  The second largest international buyer of Brazilian products was Argentina, which despite the crisis, imported 3.7 million pairs in the period, generating 36.9 million US dollars (down by 16.2% from similar period in 2014).

France (35.3 million US dollars) and Bolivia (27.9 million US dollars) follow as the main destinations for Brazilian footwear.

The United Arab Emirates continue with a very dynamic performance, and exports to this Asian country grew by 34% compared to similar period in 2014, reaching 10.8 million US dollars.