Undervalued imports. They seriously affect shoemakers of Mexico.
Until the end of August, Mexico stopped importing 18.2 million pairs of footwear compared to the same period of 2019. This represented a decrease of 29%. It went from 68.9 million in 2019 to 50.7 million in 2020.
Products from China reduced their quantities by 30.2%, those from Vietnam 26.7% and those from Indonesia 19.1% compared to 2019.
The trend in imports had increases in January and February, while from March it was reversed and produced negative indicators.
However, the persistence of under-invoicing practices in imported products continues to affect the footwear industry in Mexico.
Also in a pandemic period, there was a pronounced drop in national footwear production. In April and May, the most critical period, the decrease was 93%, while in June it was 44.5%, in July it was 31.9% and in August it was 32.2%.
The data was provided by Alejandro Gómez Tamez, executive president of the National Chamber of the Footwear Industry of Guanajuato (CICEG), who recently met in Mexico City with personnel from the Tax Administration Service (SAT) to file complaints against importers that enter undervalued goods. In this regard, he stressed that imports below the stipulated average prices increased by 45%.
In that sense, he reported that the Federal Government stopped receiving significant amounts in additional taxes, for not having fought these irregular maneuvers.
The CICEG leader remarked that it had a good response from the authorities "and we are going to continue fighting the entry of footwear at ridiculously low prices".
"We must combat corruption in customs, provide the authority with more tools to be able to dispose of goods when they are clearly undervalued", he concluded.
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