Footwear Exports Declined In The First Half Of Fujian

According to Fuzhou customs statistics, in the first half of 2008, 930 million pairs of shoes exported from Fujian were 0.5% lower than the same period last year.

Expert analysis has led to the decline in Fujian shoe exports in the first half of the year, mainly due to EU trade restrictions and technological barriers.

Experts suggest that we should pay close attention to the recent trend of the EU and overcome the unfavorable factors of footwear exports.

It is understood that the main characteristics of Fujian shoe exports in the first half of the year, on the one hand, is a decline in US exports and a slight increase in exports to the EU.

In the first half of this year, Fujian province exported 300 million pairs of shoes to the United States, a decrease of 6.6%, and 200 million pairs of exports to the EU, an increase of 3.9%.

The above two places account for 53.8% of the total export volume of shoes exported to Fujian in the same period.

On the other hand, the growth of rubber or plastic shoes, textile fabric shoes and leather shoes export decline.

In the first half of the year, the 700 million pairs of shoes made of rubber or plastic in Fujian's export outsole and uppers increased by 5.3%, accounting for 75.4% of the total export volume of shoes exported from Fujian in the same period. The export of textile materials was 140 million pairs of shoes and 11.1%, while the export of leather shoes 80 million pairs decreased by 20.7%.

Expert analysis pointed out that in the labor costs and raw material costs, RMB appreciation, export rebates and processing trade policy adjustment and other factors, China's footwear enterprises increased pressure, and the United States subprime mortgage crisis, EU trade restrictions and technical barriers increased continuously exacerbated the export environment, Fujian shoe exports in the first half of this year has shown a negative growth trend.

As the second largest market for shoes exports in Fujian, the EU's recent trend deserves attention.

First, the EU will extend the anti-dumping period.

Since October 7, 2006, the EU has imposed an anti-dumping duty of 2 years and 16.5% on leather shoes in China, and this measure extended to Macao in April 29th this year due to various reasons such as re export trade.

Anti dumping measures have led to serious setbacks in exports of leather shoes to the EU.

In 2007, Fujian exported 30 million pairs of leather shoes to the EU, down 27.1% from the same period last year, and exported 10 million pairs of leather shoes in the first half of 2008, down 30.4% from the same period last year.

Although the EU's anti-dumping measures against leather shoes will expire in October 2008, the Italy Footwear Association and the European footwear Federation have begun to lobby actively. The European footwear Federation has decided to extend the anti-dumping measures to China and Vietnam leather shoes to the EU for 5 years.

The two is the implementation of the two major green barriers of the European Union.

The European Union's registration, assessment, licensing and restriction system (REACH) has been pre registered since June 1, 2008, and the directive on the sale and use of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) came into effect in June 27, 2008, which greatly improved the "threshold" of footwear exports to Europe.

According to the REACH code, after January 1, 2009, unregistered or pre registered footwear items will not be allowed to enter the European Union.

Compared with REACH, the limitation of PFOS directive is more specific, and will directly impact on textiles, leather shoes and so on. However, the textile auxiliaries that can fully comply with EU's PFOS control standards have not been developed in China.

Experts suggest that the government, intermediaries and enterprises should make joint efforts to change the passive situation of footwear exports.

The government should play a guiding role in dealing with EU anti-dumping measures and technical barriers, and actively coordinate with the EU.

The chamber of Commerce and trade associations should shoulder heavy responsibilities in coordinating the external behaviors of enterprises and strengthening industry self-discipline. We should set up an industry import and export monitoring and early warning system and establish a smooth channel for information dissemination.

Enterprises should play the main role in dealing with anti-dumping measures and technical barriers.

Footwear enterprises should change their traditional distribution methods, improve their technological level and environmental quality, and explore their own brand development path.