Industry Minister, Minister Of Commerce Encourages Footwear Development

Yesterday, the Ministry of Commerce and the provincial government held the "business forum of Zhejiang enterprises and trade associations" in Wenzhou. Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce, after listening to the difficulties reflected by several major trade associations in Wenzhou and well-known private enterprises in Zhejiang, encouraged everyone to actively face and cleverly solve the difficulties.

At the symposium, Wenzhou shoe leather, smoking appliances, low voltage electrical appliances and other trade associations reflected that they had encountered great difficulties in foreign trade. They mainly had four knives on the neck of Wenzhou's export enterprises. They were: substantial increase in raw material prices, lower export tax rebate rates, continuous depreciation of the US dollar and rising labor costs.

A representative of an export shoe company said that the cost of raw materials for leather shoes increased by 4.1% and labor costs increased by 13% this year, resulting in a 20 million yuan reduction in output value due to the appreciation of the renminbi.

The representative of the Wenzhou smoking and smoking Industry Association said that the smoking industry encountered unprecedented difficulties, among which the impact of the rising price of metal materials is the biggest. It is hoped that the departments concerned can give preferential policies to export tax rebates and foster labor-intensive industries.

Having taken the lead of the representative of the tobacco industry association, Chen Deming said: "the Wenzhou smoking appliance industry has played a good leading role in the lawsuit against EU anti-dumping, and has set an example for the national export enterprises.

Footwear, clothing and other non polluting, low pollution labor intensive industries, the future policy guidance will be mainly based on encouragement and support, and the prospects for development will remain bright.

Chen Deming urged Zhejiang enterprises to say: "the spirit of persistence is victory" is worth promoting.

In terms of foreign trade, entrepreneurs should make efforts to use foreign exchange and invest abroad to balance trade surplus and create conditions for stabilizing all factors.

In view of the depreciation of the US dollar and the damage to the interests of the export enterprises, Chen Deming hopes that everyone will take measures to overcome difficulties by expanding imports and using foreign exchange.