Brazilian footwear exports grew in both volume and value in January 2023, year-over-year, with shipments to EU countries offsetting the drop recorded in the US and Argentine markets, reports World Footwear.

According to the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados), in the first month of the year, Brazil shipped 14.63 million pairs, generating 117.9 million US dollars. These figures reflect an increase of 4.5% and 16.6% in volume and value, respectively, on a comparable basis to the same period of the prior year.

Abicalçados highlighted, though, that the growth of exports to EU member countries – by 29% in value and 27.9% in volume – offset the decline in exports to the US and Argentina, historically, the two main destinations for Brazilian footwear. “The deceleration of inflation in the region tends to benefit, gradually, the consumption of non-essential goods, such as footwear”, commented the Executive President of the association, Haroldo Ferreira, emphasizing that the IMF revised – upwards – the projection of GDP growth for the Euro Zone, which should vary 0.7% in 2023 – the previous forecast was of 0.5%.