Footwear chaos at Argentina-Brazil border
26/04/2012
Of these, the Brazilian sources claim, 730,000 pairs have been waiting to enter the Argentinean market since last year, missing out on important sales opportunities such as Christmas and Mother’s Day, which Argentina celebrates in October.
Brazilian industry body Abicalçados has been quoted in media such as O Globo criticising the Argentinean authorities’ approach, saying it goes against an agreement between the two countries. Abicalçados says Argentinean retailers have permission to import 15 million pairs of shoes a year from the neighbouring country and that Argentina has committed to allowing Brazil to have a 75% share of all its footwear imports from other countries in the Mercosur trading bloc (Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).
Separately, the Argentinean Footwear Association (CIC) held talks with their country’s minister for external trade at the start of this year. One of the points they put to her was that Argentina needed to set up a new footwear agreement with Brazil.
For the last three years, CIC said at the time, Argentina has limited the number of shoes that have come across the border from its larger neighbour, to 15 million pairs in 2009, 14.2 million pairs in 2010 and, with final figures still to become clear, a similar number estimated for 2011. CIC said it would like to put a similar arrangement in place for 2012 and beyond.
However, in February the Argentinean government introduced new controls on imports, obliging retailers and other importers in Argentina to make formal declarations in advance about which goods they want to bring into the country and in what quantities for specific periods of time. This is in addition to measures already in place to keep a tight control over import licences.
In a statement in March, Abicalçados director, Heitor Klein, said: “It’s chaos for companies trying to export to Argentina. Exporters are finding it difficult even to get hold of the documentation they need and, for example, no one seems to know if you have a licence before making the declaration or if you have to make the declaration first and then apply for a licence.”
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