Leather and leather product exports continued to expand during the period under review, reaching $8.73 billion, a 5.8% increase on the year before, accounting for 4.4% of the total value of exported commodities.

Leather glove exports increased 51.1% in value, followed by leather balls (+43.6%) and fur garments (+24.5%). Suitcase and leather shoe exports climbed 10.1% and 4.9% respectively. The export of leather garments, however, decreased 12.6%, while finished leather and hide exports were down 1.1%. Shoes accessories were down 4.9%.

Exports reached 2.85 billion pairs worth, $6.95 billion in value, up 4.2% and 5.4% respectively on the year before. Leather shoe exports totaled 630 million pairs, an increase of 4.2%, accounting for 22% of the total export of footwear.

The export value of leather shoes was $3.13 billion, an increase of 4.9% on the year previous and 45% of total footwear exports. The export of rubber and plastic shoes reached 1.53 billion pairs, up 4.2% from last year and 54% of the total export quantity. Export value was $2.65 billion, a 6.9% increase compared with the same period of last year, taking 38% of the total export value for footwear. Textile shoes numbered 490 million pairs, a fall of 0.5% and accounting for 17% of the total. Export value was $950 million, up by 2.9% and 14% of the total.

The average export price for leather garments and leather balls decreased, while leather shoes and leather gloves increased in varying degrees. The average export price of leather garments was $30.28, a fall of $3.58 on last year, leather balls averaged $1.28, a decrease $0.16, leather shoes averaged $4.98 and leather gloves $1.22, increases of $0.04 and $0.24 respectively.

Export markets by value – leather and raw hide (excluding fur

x$1,000

Leather and leather product imports reached $2.28 billion in the period under review, a fall of 6% from the year previous. The import of leather and hides (excluding furs) reached $2.01 billion, a fall of 5.5% compared to last year. Imports of components for footwear, at $160 million, were down 17.5%, machinery for leather and shoe processing imports were down $52.45 million, a fall of 3.1%, and imports of leather cases reached $27.59 million (+by 9.5%). Leather shoe imports reached $22.28 million, an increase of 18.9% on the year before. Leather garment imports reached $1.4 billion, up 91.2%, leather glove imports totaled $1.7 million, down by 24.2%, and fur garment imports, at $1.5 million, were up by 12.9%.

Item	Unit	1- 8, 2002		1-8, 2001		%
		Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value
Leather shoes	10,000 pairs	100	22,283	107	18,741	-5.9	18.9
Rubber and plastic shoes,	10,000 Pairs	146	5,101	134	Share this story: Leatherbiz.com cannot be held responsible for content if the language setting is changed from English. The translations provided by Google Translate are automated and therefore might not be accurate and may contain incorrect, offensive or misleading language. We offer this facility as a guide only.