Not only did national shoe exports grow by more than 20% in 2022, imports also increased enormously last year. In total, Portugal bought 54 million pairs of shoes abroad, 9 million more than in 2021. And paid 704 million euros for them, which means a growth of 20% in quantity and 33.7% in value. The majority came from Spain, but China ranks second among the main origin markets, surpassing France, Belgium and Germany in one year.
Figures that are not surprising when we consider that of the 24 billion pairs of shoes produced in the world in 2022, 87% were made in Asia. China alone, which remains the world’s largest shoe producer, produced more than 13,000 pairs, accounting for almost 55% of global production, followed by India, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Portugal continues to buy almost half of the shoes it imports from Spain, but China has strengthened its position among the country’s suppliers: it already has a 36% market share in the number of pairs imported, with almost 16 million pairs this year. The share is substantially lower in value, namely 14%, which corresponds to approximately 80 million euros.
But – and the data comes from the World Footwear Yearbook, the statistical yearbook under the responsibility of the sector association APICCAPS – China was the country that grew the most over the past five years, with a total increase of 24 million euros. which corresponds to a gain of 41%. In second place comes the strengthening of Germany, with an increase of 40% in the last five years, equivalent to another 20 million euros. In 2022, Germany dropped to fourth place in the table of countries of origin for national shoe imports, after selling 3.7 million pairs worth 70 million euros.
France, which occupied second place in 2021, drops to fifth place and Belgium remains in third place.
Re-export centers
The communications director of APICCAPS recalls that, unlike Portugal, which mainly exports the footwear produced, most European countries have lost their industries and function as “re-export centers”. And he gives examples: Spain produced 83 million pairs last year, but imported 328 million pairs, of which 197 million came from China and 37 million from Vietnam. Belgium, which does not produce shoes, exported 307 million pairs, of which more than 70% came from Vietnam, China and Indonesia. Germany, which produced only 58 million pairs and consumed 473 million, imported 793 million pairs, two-thirds of which came from Asian countries.
“This means that what comes into our country is very cheap footwear, which is a sign of the economic situation we live in,” says Paulo Gonçalves. This is proven by the fact that the average import price last year was 13 euros, compared to the average price of 26.4 euros for shoes made in Portugal that we export.
This year the trend continues. In the first seven months of the year, Portugal imported 31 million pairs worth almost 420 million euros, representing an increase of 2.3% in quantity and 12.9% in value. 12 million pairs came from Spain, worth 168 million euros, an increase of 4% in quantity and almost 21% in value. From China we received 10 million pairs, for which we paid 39.5 million euros, an increase of almost 7% in volume, but a decrease of 11.4% in value. The average price of imported footwear from Spain was 14 euros, from China it was less than 4 euros.
Values that APICCAPS highlights are also a sign of the lower purchasing power of the Portuguese, who buy more – shoe consumption in Portugal grew by more than 21%, equivalent to 11 million pairs more than in 2021, a total of 63 million – but cheaper products.
Effect of immigration
Regarding the increase in consumption, Paulo Gonçalves points out that it is important to take into account that Portugal now has almost 800,000 immigrants living in the country, which will certainly help explain some of this growth. In any case, he emphasizes: “This is the antithesis of what we stand for. We recently posted a promotional video on social media under the motto All you need is less and with which we tried to teach people how to care for their shoes.” so they last longer. The truth is that there is excessive production and consumption worldwide. It is not sustainable. We all need to buy less and be more responsible in our choices, favoring higher quality products that will last.”
Source: DN
