Cautious welcome from Abicalçados for EU trade deal
04/07/2019
Abicalçados executive president, Heitor Klein, said he awaited more detail of exactly how the proposed trade deal will affect Brazilian shoe companies but commented that, in principle, it is a positive development.
Mr Klein explained that one of the concerns Brazilian footwear companies have is that they are likely to face greater competition in their home market from European shoe producers. At the moment, European-made shoes imported into Brazil are subject to a 35% import tax. He said Abicalçados has presented a petition to the Brazilian government asking for clarification on exactly what European-made means.
“The footwear sector’s fear is that a European country could be used as an export platform by shoe manufacturers in other parts of the world, especially Asian countries. We would like any shoe that is labelled as made in the European Union to have a minimum of 60% of its components produced locally.”
In terms of footwear trade in the other direction, Brazilian footwear manufacturers exported 17.7 million pairs to the European Union in 2018, down by 14% compared to 2017. Mr Klein said manufacturers are hopeful of a boost from the new trade agreement, anticipating that European Union tariffs of 17% on Mercosur-made shoes would fall to zero.
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