The Brazilian Association of Footwear Industries (Abicalcados) has asked the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade to remove Vietnam from a list of countries being sued for dumping their shoes on the domestic market.
The proposal was made after Brazil's Trade Protection Agency got the results of its investigation of Vietnamese shoemakers. Currently, China is the only defendant in the lawsuit.
The Abicalcados’s move is expected to offer an opportunity for Vietnam’s footwear enterprises to increase their share and improve their competitive edge in the Brazilian market.
The Abicalcados submitted the anti-dumping petition to the agency on October 30, 2008, asking for a probe into the imports from Vietnam, China and several other countries. Investigations were launched on December 15 and the agency found that Vietnamese shoemakers did not damage the Brazilian shoe market.
The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association said the volume of footwear exported to Brazil was relatively small, reaching almost US$40 million between January-November 2008.
