Brazil officially announced its final conclusion last Thursday, after the working group of Brazil’s Department of Commercial Defense (DECOM) had interrogated the two biggest importers of Brazil and 11 companies of Indonesia and Vietnam. Among those are five producers of Nike and Adidas shoes in HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An.

The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) said it had registered as a party involved in this lawsuit.

On October 4 last year, DECOM-initiated an investigation after the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association filed a lawsuit against Chinese footwear products exported to Brazil via a third country (Vietnam and Indonesia) to evade anti-dumping tariffs levied on Chinese shoes. Chinese footwear products exported to Brazil are imposed an average anti-dumping tax of US$13.85 per pair since March 2010.

Chinese footwear exports to Brazil dropped by an average 66.4% in 2009 and 2010, while Vietnamese shoe exports surged 80.2%. Brazil has evidence showing that footwear materials imported from China to Vietnam have picked up 51.4%, said Lefaso.

According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, in the first eight months of 2011, Vietnam exported over US$118.9 million worth of footwear products to Brazil, accounting for 28.22% of the total footwear import value of Brazil. However, such a value only made up 2.86% of Vietnam’s total shoe export turnover.

The Vietnam Competition Authority said big footwear brands like Nike, Adidas and Reebok intended to shift production from China to Vietnam to fill the orders of Brazil.

Source: The Saigon Times Daily