Exports from Brazil to the region were up nearly 40% year-to-date through November, with sales to the biggest markets increasing.
Footwear exports from Brazil to the United Arab Emirates were up 68% in shipped volume year-to-date through November. The UAE are the biggest destination for Brazilian shoes in the Arab world, but sales to other markets across the region also went up significantly.“The Arab world has been growing [as a market] each year,” Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados) Haroldo Ferreira told ANBA told ANBA this Monday (16).
Haroldo Ferreira: good results in the Arab world
From January to November, 3.73 million pairs of shoes got shipped to Arab countries from Brazil, up 39.6% from a year ago. Sales fetched USD 28.4 million, up 20.4%.
“Sales to Arab countries outgrew total exports from Brazil in the first 11 months of the year,” said Ferreira. Total exports climbed 3.8% in volume and 0.9% in revenue.
Abicalçados’ chairman also said Arab economies are for the most part stable, hence the growing consumption. “We’ve been working on this market for a few years now, and the results are great,” he explained.
Behind the UAE, the top Arab destinations of footwear from Brazil are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt. All off them imported more year-on-year.
Ferreira believes that market of the region may continue to grow in 2020 but not in the same pace of 2019, since it’s hard to keep a growth level so high every year.
He explained that the UAE specifically act as a hub for reexports to other destinations, so sale to that country are higher. Exports to the UAE, for example, are twice higher than to Saudi Arabia, the region’s second largest market.
The UAE are the 14thlargest destination of footwear from Brazil, which is the 9thlargest shoe supplier to the Arab nation, Abicalçados reported.
The United States are the main importer of footwear from Brazil, and this year sales to them were up 3.4%. Overall Brazilian exports haven’t grown more because Argentina, the second largest destination, is going through a crisis. “This year saw a decline of over 20% [in exports] to Argentina, but it remained as the 2ndlargest market,” the executive finished.
Source: ANBA