According to the Department of Foreign Trade from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), with further analysis from the Department of Intelligence of the CICB, during the last month of 2014, Brazil exported 254 million US dollars, compared to 240 million US dollars the year before, a 5.8% growth.

José Fernando Bello, Executive President of the CICB, recognizes that 2014 was highly positive for Brazilian leather exports, including all the efforts and investments the sector has “promoted in order to increase its competitiveness in the international market”. Mr. Bello highlights the strong importance of fundamental factors explaining the performance of the industry in 2014 such as the leather quality, sustainability, marketing promotion and technology.

Mr. Belo also referred to the sectoral project Brazilian Leather (an initiative of CICB and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) for the promotion of leather exports) recognizing it as “a key vector for the results seen in 2014”.

Anticipating 2015, Mr Bello claims more collaborative position towards the industry from the Government as a way of benefiting the whole economy.