The average price of Brazilian shoes increased from $9.98 in the period from January to November 2005, to $10.32 during the same 11-month period in 2006. The industry has achieved higher prices for its footwear by entering more demanding and sophisticated niches in order to overcome the problems created by the unfavourable currency exchange rate of the Brazilian real.

Executive director of the Brazilian Association of Shoe Manufacturers (Abicalçados), Heitor Klein, attributed the growth in shoe prices to both an increase in higher quality products and to readjustments in the exchange rate.

Brazilian producers have now improved sales in markets, such as Europe and the Middle East, which are more receptive to higher value footwear as manufacturers have had to withdraw from markets, such as the USA, where low cost is the deciding factor.

Revenues from shoe exports decreased by 1% between January and November 2006 compared with the same period in 2005, whereas the foreign sales volume decreased by 4%. Brazil exported 164.9 million pairs of shoes during the first eleven months of 2006, generating $1.7 billion in revenue. The footwear chain—which includes all of the stages from raw material production to retail—generated approximately R$42 billion ($19.6 billion).