Optimism reigns in Brazil
21/01/2010
Optimism abounds in the Brazilian footwear industry at the start of 2010.
At the opening of the Couromoda exhibition in São Paulo on January 19, the president of The Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados), Milton Cardoso, said that his organisation was projecting 7% growth for the year in the domestic market and 3% growth in exports.
He explained that footwear production in Brazil was likely to reach 800 million pairs this year, and that the industry would soon have the capacity to produce 1 billion pairs a year. Consumption on the domestic market in 2009 was 630 million pairs.
At Couromoda, several prominent Brazilian footwear manufacturers were considerably more optimistic than Mr Cardoso.
Paulo Keeling, marketing director of Via Uno, told local media at the event that his company is hoping to grow by 67% in 2010. The company produced six million pairs of shoes last year and has set itself a target of making 10 million pairs this year. "We are very optimistic about this year, thanks to the investment that our company has made in the market, and thanks to the help of the government."
Vulcabras, which owns the Azaleia brand, said it is also hoping for a good year in 2010. The company's marketing director, Pedro Bartelle, said: "We closed 2009 with good sales figures, and our pre-sales indications for 2010 are very good." The company made 40 million pairs last year.
Meanwhile, Paquetá Calçados, which manufactures shoes under its own Dumond and Capodarte brands, as well as producing on behalf of several prominent global brands as an outsource manufacturing partner, believes it can grow by 30% in 2010.
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