National production grows 3.8% in 2013

After two consecutive years of decline, domestic production of footwear will grow this year. According to a projection of the Industrial Marketing Institute (Iemi), the sector will have to 3.8% expansion in volume, to 835 million pairs.
The expected growth for this year, however, it is still not enough to take the national footwear industry at the level of production of 2010. In 2011 and 2012, there has been a fall of 8.4% and 1.8%, respectively, in the amount of pairs produced.
During this period, some factors directly affected performance in the industry: imports, exports decline due to foreign exchange and global crisis, protectionism of Argentina, one of the leading national footwear production markets.
The Outlook is more positive now. With the dollar above $ 2, exports are an alternative to drain the production, although the exchange rate level is still far from being considered ideal by manufacturers.
In General, the production capacity is larger than the domestic demand. There is a vacuum left by the fall of exports in recent years, factor that desmotiva new investments in capacity by businesses.
This year, the best performance in the industry should be driven by the reduction of labor costs and the basic interest rate (Selic) below 8%. In sales, the industry's expansion provides Iemi on the order of 5%, to $ 24 billion, slightly below the 5.5 percent growth registered last year in 2011.
The biggest growth opportunities are not in the industry, but in retail. The withdrawal of the IPI reduced for cars, electronics and white goods, which drove consumer spending, should give an extra gas to trade shoes.
The prediction of the Iemi is that retailers will grow 6.5% in revenues this year, to $ 40.7 billion, virtually the same performance obtained in 2012. In the number of pairs sold, it is expected a 4.5 percent advance, to more than 800 million pairs. The growth in volume in 2012 in trade was 4%.