Argentina may impose anti-dumping measures on shoes from Malaysia
22/09/2010
Argentina imposed anti-dumping measures against footwear imports from China in 2009, saying it had proof that Chinese made shoes were coming onto the Argentine market for as little as $2 a pair. Earlier, the government had set up a scheme to promote leather school shoes for all the country’s children, made in Argentina from Argentine leather at prices starting at $15.
Now the authorities in the South American country have said they believe exporters are shipping shoes from China to Malaysia and from there to Argentina to avoid the measures.
The president of the footwear manufacturing association of Argentina, Alberto Sellaro, reacted to the news by saying: “It’s clear our government is committed to the fight against anti-competitive trading practices and against the immoral conduct of some companies that are trying to get round the measures we have in place against imports from China.”
As a result of the anti-dumping measures, footwear imports from China into Argentina in 2009 were 33% below the figures for 2008 at 6.3 million pairs. In the first seven months of this year, the figures fell further, with only 1.4 million pairs of Chinese-made shoes coming into the country, a decline of 69% on 2009.
As for imports from Malaysia, there were none in 2008. But in the final months of 2009, after the measures against Chinese imports had come into effect, 250,000 pairs of shoes reached Argentina from Malaysia. And in the first seven months of this year, a total of 800,000 pairs of imported shoes, with an average price of $5, came from Malaysia. This raised Mr Sellaro’s suspicions and the government has agreed to investigate.
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