The United States has maintained its record as the world’s largest single market for footwear. In 2002, the country imported some 1.9 billion pairs - an increase of 6.4% on the year before - and about 22 times the domestic production for 2002 which was estimated at 75,000,000 pairs.
China was again the largest exporter of footwear to the U.S., shipping some 1.5 billion pairs - an increase of 8.5 percent over 2001. Brazil meantime maintained its record as the second largest exporter to the U.S., shipping over 101.6 million pairs, which was an increase of 4.3 percent over the previous year. Vietnam showed the largest increase of exports to the U.S., totalling some 17.5 million pairs which was a 100% increase on the year before. Most other countries reported declines in shipments to the U.S.
