Footwear industry offers hope
31/03/2009
The president of the China Leather Industries Association (CLIA), Madam Zhang Shuhua, has said the country’s footwear industry is in a good position to offer a high level of support to the leather industry there.
She said: “The footwear industyr here has grown steadily for 20 years, even though it did go down in 2008 and will go down again in 2009. The fall will not be as bad as some commentators have suggested and will probably be down by 30% at worst on the total for 2007.”
In the face of falling demand internationally, she explained that companies that have traditionally focused on export markets have recently begun to switch to the domestic market. “Exports are down, although not dramatically,” Madam Zhang continued. “But the footwear manufacturers that focus on the domestic market have not yet been affected by the global economic downturn, which is the reason why more and more companies are now entering that market, adding to the competition.”
She accepted that this meant some footwear manufacturers were likely to go under in 2009, but said it would be the weak ones that would go. “There are different levels of the domestic market here,” she said. “Some companies focus on Beijing and Shanghai, but others supply especially for the lower end of the market.”
In response to a question from leatherbiz, she said people in agricultural communities in rural China could afford to buy leather shoes and had access to them in local shops. And, although many of the manufacturers she has spoken to acknowledge that 2009 and 2010 are going to be difficult years, they have told the CLIA president that they regard China’s domestic footwear market as a good opportunity for the next 10 or 20 years.
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