Why did footwear prices increase more than 70% in one year?
The prices of the FOOTWEAR and CLOTHING sector showed an annual variation rate, in March 2021, of 71.5% compared to the same month in 2020. This percentage is significantly above the 42.6% that the general CPI price index rose, in the same period. This means that footwear increased that average percentage over the course of a year. The data were released by INDEC -National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina.
Only in March 2021, these products had increases of 10.8%, which represented a total increase of 15.5% in the first quarter of the year.
The situation is still worrying, in a context where the footwear sector is one of the most affected by the pandemic, regarding sales and production.
In the first case, sales fell due to other priorities in family consumption and in terms of manufacturing, the restrictions imposed by the health crisis and the shortage of supplies, made activity difficult.
With these characteristics of the market, where consumption continues to contract, some footwear manufacturers consulted justify the price increases due to the inflationary process that government policy has not yet managed to control.
On the other hand, they assure that the changes in seasonal productions -Autumn/Winter- imply new and greater expenditures in moulds, collections and materials. It is also well known that winter productions require greater consumption of materials, therefore more investments, compared to summer.
In addition, there is a shortage of supplies and components in general, especially those imported, which suffer restrictions on their entry, plus permanent increases.
Among other examples, they point to the almost 85% increase in textile supplies between February 2020 and 2021.
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