Imports of footwear from Vietnam, Indonesia, and China saw a 38% increase in revenue and a 10% growth in volume in November compared to the same month last year, as reported by the Brazilian Association of Footwear Industries (Abical\u00e7ados). Year-to-date, imports from these Asian countries, accounting for 80% of the total, rose by 26.6% in revenue ($327 million) and 11.5% in volume (22 million pairs).<\/p>\n
These figures exclude imports made through the Remessa Conforme program, which exempts international purchases made on e-commerce platforms up to $50 from taxes\u2014a category that includes the vast majority of domestically produced footwear\u2014without proper oversight. Haroldo Ferreira, the executive president of Abical\u00e7ados, emphasizes that these unaccounted imports would significantly inflate an alarming statistic.<\/p>\n
The impact is beginning to be felt in employment, with the potential for the closure of 30,000 jobs. From January to October, the national footwear sector<\/strong><\/a> lost nearly 2,000 jobs, resulting in a workforce 6.6% smaller than the previous year. Up to October, production declined by 1.6% compared to the same period in 2022.<\/p>\n See below Brazilian footwear (hs 64) imports measured in TEUs registered between Jan 2019 and Oct 2023. The data is from DataLiner.<\/p>\n Brazilian Footwear Imports | Jan 2019 – Oct 2023 | TEU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n