Brazil’s Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, stated today that Brazilian exports are once again going to exceed the US$ 10 billion mark that was achieved for the first time in June.
“We have more and more export records,” stated the Minister, in São Paulo, during the opening ceremony of the Francal, the largest shoe sector fair in the country.
According to Furlan, Brazilian sales in the month of July are still at an average of US$ 540 million a day and imports continue at a level of US$ 270 million a day.
This will provide the country a US$ 4 billion trade balance surplus at the end of the month, even with the appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar.
The appreciation of the real is worrying exporters, mainly those in the shoe sector, as Brazilian products end becoming more expensive abroad. Furlan stated, however, that despite the 9% reduction in shoe exports in the first half, there has been a 9% growth in revenues.
According to the Governor of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, who also participated in the event, the Brazilian shoe sector is an “employment factory.”
“Many small companies irrigate the economy and add value (to this sector),” he said. “Brazil has all chances of becoming a world leader in the shoe sector,” added the Mayor of São Paulo, José Serra.
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