Footwear imports from China to the United States increased by 10.5% in the first six months of 2004. This dramatic increase amounted to 969.4 million pairs of shoes.
Nate Herman, import specialist for the American Apparel and Footwear Association, said that China is now taking a substantial share in the higher end of the market that has previously been dominated by Italy and Brazil.
This increase now gives China control of more than 83% of all US footwear imports.
Brazil continus to be the second largest supplier of footwear to the US market though its exports fell 8.5% during the first half of the year. Brazil accounted for only 58.7 million pairs of shoes on the US market.
Footwear from Italy also saw a serious drop in footwear exports to the U.S. Imports fell 11% with the U.S. importing only 20.3 million pairs.
Even worse hit was Spain which saw its exports to the US plummet by 28.7%.
On the up side, it was noted that imports from Vietnam rose 42.4% to 22.4 million pairs.
Another area which reportedly enjoyed an increase in exports to the US was Hong Kong. This area reported an increase in footwear exports to the U.S. of 115.4% or a total of 9.4 million pairs for the first half of the year.
