French footwear manufacturers call for protective duties against China
The Association of French Footwear Manufacturers has demanded urgent and effective measures against Chinese imports in a letter to French ministers and to the European Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
ANCI, the Italian association of footwear manufacturers called attention to the dangerous rise in Chinese footwear imports to Europe earlier this year and now the Fédération Française de la Chaussure, the French association of footwear manufacturers, has raised alarm over Chinese imports, highlighting the dangers in an uncontrolled increase in imports from China.
“We are worried,” states the letter, signed by the chairman of the French footwear manufacturers’ association, “about the significant rise in Chinese imports, which in January 2005 amounted to 18.8 million pairs, a rise of 38%. This increase is due essentially to imports of products included in the customs categories that were liberalised on 1 January. If we take into consideration only those categories then the increase stands at 92%, while the average price drops from €7 to €4.40. This trend will have catastrophic repercussions on the French footwear industry and on employment.”
The figures provided by the French are worrying not only because of the consequences for the French industry, but also for the indirect impact on the European and Italian industries. In January,
Rossano Soldini, chairman of ANCI, commented, “The French data confirm our fears about
