Venezuelan footwear production expected to grow by 20% in 2023
Venezuelan footwear production may increase by about 20% this year, says Tony Di Benedetto, President of Cavecal, but growth can be compromised if industry and trade conditions do not improve
According to the data of the Venezuelan Chamber of Footwear and Components (Cavecal), despite the slowdown recorded at the end of last year, the country’s footwear industry should produce about 20 million pairs of shoes, increasing by approximately 20% from 17 million pairs in 2022. Tony Di Benedetto, president of the association, stresses that the last quarter of 2023 can be decisive for this outcome, as demand regularly rises in that period.
Still, Di Benedetto underlined to the local press that the Venezuelan market needs more supply and to “improve its conditions” accordingly. On the one hand, the footwear industry currently employs about 60 000 people, but when the country had a larger market share, it employed between 250 000 to 300 000 people, he recalled. And, on the other hand, the industry is currently struggling with importers who do not pay the corresponding tariffs, “we are not against imports but against the exemption of tariffs”, he emphasized.
In his view, the local footwear industry could leverage the fact that “people are starting to get tired” of the low quality of imported footwear to expand its capacity. To that end, the President of Cavecal calls for more investment, so that the industry can purchase better raw materials abroad and “close the technological backwardness gap in the sector, which is already seven years old”.