According to figures released by Customs officials from Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, during the first nine months of 2005, shoe exports from the province reached $71.25 million, a 51% increase compared with the same period of last year and 21% higher than the average national growth in footwear exports.

Sichuan’ s commercial department is now forecasting that shoe exports will break the $100 million mark in 2005 and that footwear will become one of Sichuan’s key export goods.

According to statistics the EU saw a large increase in imports from the region, having imported $19.89 million worth of shoes from the region in the first nine months, a rise of 70.3% compared with the same period in 2004.