Improvement in the quality of the imported footwear manufacturers concerned already

The advancement of quality Asian footwear ever worried about the Brazilian manufacturers. The industry fears losing more space in front of the competition's investments in products with higher added value.
"Little by little we see the [manufacturers] Asians specializing more and we don't doubt that, before long, will be ready to compete with us also in quality", assessed the President of industry Based Union of France (Sindifranca), José Carlos Brigagão do Couto, in an interview to the DCI.
According to him, although the polo footwear manufacturers of Franca (SP) do not face significant competition with imported, are attentive to the improvement in the quality of competitors from other countries, mainly Asian, strong industries in synthetic thread.
"The product of France is, for the most part, and we work to meet the specific requirements of each client. Have Asians, gain on sale on a large scale and low price. Are different products for different audiences, "he said.
In the assessment of the President of the Brazilian Association of footwear Industries (Abicalçados), Hector Klein, the change in the profile of Asian competitors is natural. "Just as our industry, the expected path for these companies is to seek higher value-added niches."
The strategy not to lose space in the segment of higher added value, defended Klein, is to always be ahead of other countries.
"We are working nearly 10 years for the sector to invest in product development, differentiated design and brand building," he recalls.
The managing partner of the consulting firm Iemi market intelligence, Marcelo Prado, made a similar assessment in a recent interview to the DCI. For him, the way to the national industry be competitive at home and also move into other consumer markets matter, necessarily, by the work of building the brand manufacturers.
"Companies that invest in building a brand that differentiates itself from the competition, always have a better chance of having better performance", said Prado.
Export
For Christie, the Sindifranca, the high of the dollar in recent months, in addition to helping the sector to reduce the presence of imported in the Brazilian market, has led the industry to concentrate efforts on exports.
The reflection of this change in strategy, according to the Chairman, should appear only in numbers of the sector in the last quarter of this year.
"This is because the external market works with purchasing longer-term programs. Business has programming for six months, a year or two. In addition, we are having to relearn how to get business customers outside the country ", he details.
Christian explains that, to help the manufacturers, the Sindifranca have developed projects of support to exporters, as a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and industry Brazil China, which seeks the formation of a group to explore business opportunities in the Chinese market.
Although benefit from sales to other countries, the actual cheaper also impacts the industries box, he recalls. "Many shoe matter raw material and, if the increase [the costs] continues at this rate, that could weigh on the price of the product and the footwear can be without competitiveness out there," says Couto.
The cost of labor, higher compared to Asians, is also a constant complaint in the industry when it comes to competitiveness. But Klein, Abicalçados, recalls that the Brazilian labour productivity has improved in recent years. "You can still improve, but the increments will be smaller because labor already have good level of productivity."
The main agenda of the sector next year, says the leader, will be the export of footwear, even though the marketed quantity remains below the local market.
"Domestic sales have always been very strong, but we have to recover part of the external market which, in the years of real valued, the industry lost. With the more expensive imported, the national product advances in the internal market too. But local consumption remains retracted ", he points out.