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WORLD FOOTWEAR | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012
Brazil’s exports of footwear to Argentina were formally
limited in 2009, 2010 and 2011, with the government
announcing an upper limit to the number of pairs that
manufacturers in Brazil could sell to retailers or distributors in
Argentina. The totals were 15 million pairs for 2009, 14.2
million pairs for 2010 and a similar number for 2011. CIC has
said it would like to renew this arrangement, but we have
seen no figure published for 2012. Perhaps Argentinean
footwear industry leaders harboured fears that, without an
upper limit, cross-border competitors would flood their
domestic market with imports. This is not how the story has
progressed in the course of this year.
By April, reports from Brazil said that almost 2.5 million
pairs of shoes from its manufacturers were being held at the
Argentinean border waiting for customs clearance. Of these,
the Brazilian sources claimed, 730,000 pairs had been
waiting to enter the Argentinean market since 2011, missing
out on important sales opportunities such as Christmas.
Chaos at the border
Abicalçados made critical comments of the Argentinean
authorities’ approach, saying it was contrary to agreements
that had been in place between the two countries and the
organisation made it clear that exporters in Brazil had
prepared for 2012 anticipating that export levels would, once
again, be around the level of 15 million pairs. However, in
February the Argentinean government introduced new wider
controls on imports, obliging retailers and other importers in
Argentina to make formal declarations in advance about
which goods they wish to bring into the country and in what
quantities. They must also specify the periods of time during
which the goods will come across the border. This is in
addition to measures already in place to keep a tight control
of import licences.
In a statement in March, 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 to
complete and, for example, no one seems to know if you have
to have a licence before making the declaration or if you have
to make the declaration first and then apply for a licence.” Some
footwear brands have been able to tick all of the boxes from
time to time and shoes have been making it through, but in a
trickle rather than the steady stream of more than a million
pairs a month as in recent years.
Concrete help
How much additional clarity the authorities in Argentina have
been able to provide over the autumn and the winter is open
to debate. The presidents of both countries, Cristina Fernández
of Argentina and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, have met several
times since the dispute began and have always given the
impression they want to work well together. Recent actions
point to a more unilateral focus, at least for footwear on the
Argentinean side.
Industry minister, Débora Giorgi, has reiterated that the
government wants the footwear industry to produce more
shoes (200 million pairs by 2020) and to create around
12,000 new jobs in the process. Her claim is that the
government is already helping footwear companies find strong
demand in the domestic market (estimates from CIC are that
all but two million of the 125 million pairs its members make
this year will stay in Argentina), making investment in new
technology possible through soft loans and protecting local
industries from anti-competitive imports. “That’s quite a lot of
help,” she says, “and we have to take advantage of the big
opportunity we have in front of us.”
A specific example came to light in mid August, when Cristina
Fernández announced a series of new investments in
Argentinean industry. One of the projects she named as a
recipient of government support is a new footwear
components factory and logistics centre that Grimoldi, a
Dilma Rousseff of Brazil (left) and Cristina Fernández of
Argentina at a formal lunch in Buenos Aires. Relations between
the two presidents appear positive, but a trade blockade on
shoes from Brazil has put a strain on the footwear industry.
CREDIT: GOVERNMENT OF ARGENTINA
Executive director of Abicalçados, Heitor Klein, has described
the situation at the border as chaos.
CREDIT: ABICALÇADOS