During a forum on the development of the Wenzhou shoe industry, held on April 17, Mr. Zhao Yun Feng, the deputy section chief at China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that the Ministry of Commerce is preparing to set up a shoe export fund in order to encourage shoe exports from the region and improve conditions.
He stated that the government plans to establish the fund in an attempt to reduce the competitiveness between companies that leads to competitors continually undercutting one another on price. According to official statistics, this practice of undercutting prices resulted in the average unit price of shoes exported to USA and the EU falling to less than $6 in 2004.
Furthermore, official figures showed that most of China’s shoe manufacturers invested less than 2% of its sales revenue in product development and research, therefore, it is anticipated that the founding of a shoe export fund will promote shoe development and encourage companies to develop their own quality brands.
