01/12/2009 09h02
Shoe industry bets on sales growth
O Estado de S. Paulo 01/12/2009
After suffering for five years fighting the unfavorable exchange rate and the unstable sales abroad, in 2009 the Brazilian shoes sector sees a chance to grow in the foreign market with the devaluation of the Real. Today begins Latin America's biggest shoe fair, Couromoda. There are nearly 1.2 thousand exhibitors from the entire Country. It is expected that nearly R$ 80 million (US$ 34.8 million) in deals should be closed. "Everybody is very optimistic", said Francisco Santos, the president of the fair. "In spite of the crisis, the domestic market grew 5% in 2008 and the same is expected in 2009." One of the factors for the optimism was the good Christmas sales. According to the Commercial Association of São Paulo, 49% of the consumers bought clothes and shoes for Christmas and the stores have low stocks. Because of the crisis, Dumond, a women's shoes manufacturer, reduced from 12% to 8% the goal of sales expansion in the Country in December. But it was surprised with an increase of almost 16% in the Christmas income compared to the same date of 2007. According to the management of the industry, "there weren't enough shoes in Christmas". If there were more products, the increase might have gotten to 18%. It is believed that the growth was affected by the lack of faith of store owners, fearing not selling their products. The shoe market in Brazil has activities amounting to R$ 30 billion (US$ 13 billion) a year and the export is nearly US$ 1.8 billion a year, according to data of the Brazilian Association of the Footwear Industry (Abicalçados).
