Leather footwear holds its value in China figures
Figures from the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) show that just 5.4% of the total volume of footwear that China exported in the first five months of 2026 was leather footwear.
Nevertheless, the figures also show that leather footwear commanded a much higher share of the overall value of these exports, accounting for 16% of the total.
Total footwear exports for the five-month period reached nearly 3.5 billion pairs in volume and $15.75 billion in value.
These figures represent falls of 5.7% and 10.3%, respectively. Leather footwear’s share was 190 million pairs, which brought in export revenues of more than $2.5 billion.
These figures, too, represent declines, of 3% in volume and of 10.1% in value. Over the same period, CLIA has calculated that China imported 59.5 million pairs of footwear with a value of just over $2 billion.
Of these, 16.2 million pairs were made of leather; these products contributed $860 million to the total import value. This means leather footwear had a 16.2% share of the volume of imports into China and a 42.8% share of the value.
Overall, imports of shoes, boots and other footwear were down by 19.8% in volume and by 3% in value, year on year. Imports of leather footwear were down by 17.5% in volume and by 2.5% in value.
