United States – a healthy market for footwear? No, imports fell in the first six months of the year. Japan in crisis? No, shoe purchases from abroad increased in the first half of the year. Unstoppable China? No, footwear exports between January and June collapsed. Let’s start with the USA, responsible for 20.8% of world shoe imports. In the first six months of 2016, imports dropped 6% in quantity (1.246 million pairs), down 5.9% in value. China, the main supplier to the United States, lost 11% in volume and 13.2% in revenue. Its market share dropped from 82.2% in the first half of 2015 to 73% in the same period of 2016. Who got it instead? Apart from Italy, Indonesia and Mexico, all other countries recorded double-digit growth. Numbers which, at least for the moment, prove the Ken Research Indian analysis institute wrong. The institute has forecast growth in Chinese exports to the US, estimated to reach 71% by 2018. According to the China Leather Industry Association, in fact, between January and June, Beijing’s exports were down 12%. From China to Japan, the world’s fourth largest shoe consumer. In the first half of 2016, Japan imported footwear worth €2.688 million dollars, up 3.7% over the same period of 2015. Once again, China saw losses (-4.8%) and its market share dropped from 57.9 to 53.2%. And Italy? Double-digit growth in Japan for World Footwear (+8.9% for Assocalzaturifici).
Footwear: US imports down, Japanese ones on the up
