Paraguayan shoe manufacturers called a protest for Tuesday, September 14, 2026, in the area of the Ypacaraí toll plaza. The sector is seeking measures against the entry of products made in China and is questioning the mechanism used to bring goods purchased in Iquique, Chile.
The gathering is scheduled for 7 a.m., followed by a march along the highway. Marcelo Benítez, president of the Association of Shoe Manufacturers' and Suppliers' Guilds of Paraguay, said competition had become unsustainable for local industry and demanded a response from the authorities before the end of the year.
Benítez said the association did not intend to target legal importers with brand registration and job creation. The criticism focuses on shoes purchased during shopping trips to Iquique, where a tax-exemption regime is in place. He said transport companies organize the trips and take the goods directly to commercial establishments in Paraguay.
“Shoes are very cheap there, and the tax they are paying is negligible,” the leader said. He questioned how merchants in Mercado 4 in Asunción, Ciudad del Este and Encarnación manage to receive the products at the doors of their own businesses, although, in his assessment, shoe imports require prior licensing and brand registration.
“Why, then, can a merchant from Mercado 4 go pick up shoes and unload them at the door of his own business? Something is wrong,” Benítez said.
The complaint was submitted to DNIT, Paraguay's tax and customs authority, along with a request for an investigation into the entry of the goods. So far, the available material records the manufacturers' position without presenting an official conclusion from DNIT on any potential irregularity in the regime or the operations cited.
This is the sector's second mobilization of the year. The association brings together manufacturers and suppliers of shoes, leather and production materials from Caaguazú, Central, Paraguarí, Guairá and San Pedro, as well as Itauguá, Ypacaraí and Pirayú. Benítez warned that further protests could include workers from production workshops if the authorities do not respond.