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 Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade announced the placing of antidumping regulation on the import of shoes and tires from China. According to the Ministry, the decisions were taken by the Foreign Trade Board (Camex) and published in the Diário Oficial, the Federal Official Gazette.
Resolution number 48 of the Camex, according to the Ministry, forecasts the application of a surcharge of US$ 12.47 per pair of shoes imported from China.
Excused from the surcharge are beach sandals, shoes for exclusive use in some sports, dance shoes, disposable shoes, safety shoes, slippers, shoes fully made out of textile material, baby shoes whose upper is made out of fabric and shoes made out of natural leather, with the upper in strands.
According to the Ministry, the investigation regarding dumping practices was opened in December last year, at the request of the Brazilian Association of Shoe Manufacturers (Abicalçados).
Resolution 49, in turn, forecasts the application for up to five years of a surcharge of US$ 0.75 per kilogram of tires imported from the Asian country. The penalty is for tires in the 65 and 70 series, for 13" and 14" rims.
In this area, the investigation, according to the Ministry, began in July 2008, at the request of the Brazilian tire Industry Association (Anip).
Trade Surplus
The Brazilian trade surplus from January to early September totaled US$ 20.448 million, growth of 18.7% over the same period last year (US$ 17.223 billion), according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
In the first week of September, with four business days, the surplus was US$ 480 million. Exports during the period totaled US$ 2.738 billion and imports, US$ 2.258 billion. Exports per business day averaged at US$ 684.5 million, and imports, at US$ 564.5 million.
Leather Exports
Brazilian leather exports generated revenues of US$ 679 million from January to August, a 50.62% reduction compared with the same period last year, according to information disclosed by the Confederation of Brazilian Hides and Skins Industries (CICB).
In August, shipments totaled US$ 96 million, growth of 4.35% over July. Last year, the industry exported the equivalent of US$ 1.8 billion.
In order to promote themselves, five companies in the sector participated in All China Leather, a trade fair held in Shanghai from September 2nd to 4th. The CICB maintains a foreign sales incentive program, named Brazilian Leather, in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex).
According to the CICB, companies showed themselves optimistic regarding the resumption of business in Southeast Asia.
Industry Growth
Brazilian industrial output increased in 10 out of 14 regions surveyed by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the comparison between July and June. The highest rates of growth were recorded in the states of Paraná (15.3%), Espírito Santo (8.9%), Goiás (6.0%) and Amazonas (3.6%), all of which had higher growth than the national average for the same period last year (2.2%).
Figures from the Regional Monthly Industrial Survey on Physical Production, disclosed by the IBGE, show that production also grew in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais (both of which recorded growth of 1.8%), São Paulo (1.4%), Rio Grande do Sul (1.1%), Ceará (0.9%) and Santa Catarina (0.8%).
Regions in which there factory activity slowed down were the state of Bahia (-6.0%), the Northeast region (-3.5%), the state of Pernambuco (-1.5%) and the state of Pará (-1.0%).
In comparison with the same period last year, the output decreased in every region, except for the state of Goiás, where production grew 4.4%. The highest rates of reduction were those of Espírito Santo (-20.0%), Minas Gerais (-16.1%) and São Paulo (-11.9%). The remaining regions, as the survey points out, had milder reductions than the national average.
The IBGE survey also shows that from January to July, the sector recorded an overall slowdown, with reduced output in all locations, in particular the states of Espírito Santo (-27.9%) and Minas Gerais (-20.5%).
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