Brief Introduction And Industrial Status Of Portugal Footwear Industry

I. Introduction to industrial development

Portuguese system

The industry began to develop in the 60s and 70s of last century. In 1975, there were only 500 shoemaking enterprises in the country and 15000 employees.

Within twenty years, it rose rapidly in Europe and reached its apex in the middle of 90s.

In 1995, there were about 1600 shoemaking enterprises in the country, with 60 thousand employees and nearly 110 million pairs.

Since then, influenced by the rise of new big shoemaking countries and their strategic direction, the industrial scale has gradually declined.

Until nearly two years ago, the Portuguese shoemaking industry began to pay attention to overseas market development strategy and enhance product innovation ability, and the industry scale was stabilized again.

Two, industry status

In 2011, the output was about 74 million pairs, with a total output value of about 1 billion 600 million euros, up 10.9% from the same period last year, accounting for 0.9% of the gross domestic product of the whole year.

By the end of 2011,

There are about 1300 shoemaking enterprises, mainly in the northern region of Ji Ma Liang Si, Fei errush, Fei La, San Joao - Da Madeira and Oliveira de azemash, the industry employs nearly 40 thousand people.

Charles (CHARLES), Buddha Leyva (FOREVA) and Al Sal (Helsar) are Portuguese famous local brands. Portugal also produces Aerosoles, Hush Puppies, Ecco and other world famous shoes.

Three, product export situation

(1) general situation

Footwear is one of the few remaining Portuguese trade surplus products in Portugal, which has made positive contributions to the national trade balance.

In recent years, exports continued to grow, the annual trade balance maintained at around 800 million euros.

According to the 2012 Global

In 2011, the Portuguese footwear exports amounted to 1 billion 550 million euros, accounting for 3.7% of the total exports of the country, representing an increase of 16% over the same period last year, and the total export volume ranked eleventh in the world.

95% of the annual output is exported to 132 countries in the world, of which 68% are EU members and 90% are exported to EU countries.

According to the export volume, the top five export destinations in 2011 were France (26%), Germany (19%), Spain (14%), Holland (11%), and the United Kingdom (8%).

In the past five years, apart from Britain and abroad,

The volume of exports to major trading partners increased significantly. In 2011, exports to Germany, Spain and Holland grew by more than two digit year-on-year.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that in the non major trading partner countries, exports to Italy also amounted to 480 million euros, up 45% over the same period last year.

In terms of export types, over 70% of them are leather shoes, and the rest are rubber and plastic shoes (11%).

Class shoes (7%), waterproof shoes (5%) and others (6%).

Types of footwear exported in 2011

(two) exports to China

In the past two years, although the overall export situation of Portuguese footwear has been good, exports to China have continued to shrink.

In 2011, Portuguese exports to China decreased by 15.7% to 312 thousand euros compared with the same period last year, and 10172 pairs of footwear exported to China.

Products accounted for 93%; the average export price per pair was US $30.59, which was more than doubled than the average price in 2010. The main reason is that the export volume of cheap textile shoes has dropped sharply, thus raising the export average price.

In 2010, 13822 pairs of textile shoes were exported, and only 409 pairs were exported in 2011.

Four, advantages and challenges

(1) advantages

Portugal is a big shoe making country in Europe. After half a century of accumulation and precipitation, Portugal has gradually formed the following two advantages in the international market.

Leather shoes making.

Since the mid 90s of last century, influenced by the emerging countries such as China and India, Portugal has gradually abandoned the low and middle end market and has taken a place in the high-end market, especially in the production process and quality of leather products.

According to the data, in 2011, 4 pairs of leather shoes were produced in every 5 pairs of shoes produced by Portugal, and the output of leather shoes exceeded 85% of the annual output of shoes.

In addition, the leather shoes produced by Portugal have always been loved by the British royal family.

At the wedding of Prince William and Princess Kate in Britain last year, the princess's mother and sister wore the brand shoes of Portuguese Al Sal (Helsar).

In such a banquet, "show up" and "celebrity effect" have made the world pay attention to Portuguese footwear brands.

Business operation mode.

Portuguese footwear enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for nearly 90% of the total number of shoe-making enterprises in the country, and the average number of employees in these enterprises is no more than 30.

"At present, we are the only country in Europe that does not produce OEM, and most of them are made by hand," said the responsible person of the Portuguese footwear association.

Although our company is small in scale, it can still make the quickest response to orders, that is, it can finish and deliver in a short time.

He also said, "this looks very common, but in today's international shoe market is very valuable."

(two) challenge

At present, the biggest challenge facing the Portuguese shoe industry is how to give full play to its own advantages and consolidate the traditional European market while entering the emerging market.

In this regard, the Portuguese government has formulated three major strategic development directions of "innovation, high quality and internationalization" and expects to invest 300 million euros in funds by 2015.

Specifically, "innovation" and "high quality" refer to the innovation of style and the improvement of wearability and comfort, mainly aiming at the manufacture of leather shoes with traditional superior projects; "internationalization" mainly refers to commercial promotion overseas.

In the past three years, the domestic shoemaking enterprises have participated in more than 70 promotional activities in more than 40 overseas countries under the leadership of AICEP (Portuguese foreign investment and Trade Promotion Bureau) and APICCAPS (Portugal Footwear Association).

In the current production equipment and other hardware facilities have little difference, how to do business promotion is the key to promote the further development of domestic footwear products and better cope with international competition.

Through the promotion, not only will we consolidate the position of overseas market, diversify the export target market, but also expand our visibility abroad, lay a good foundation for entering the emerging market and promote the internationalization process of our new enterprises.