Mixed picture on production
It’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint any visible trend in production at present as countries around the world report a wide variety of statistics with some posting impressive growth while others in the same region appear to be struggling. And the leather and footwear industries appear to be two of the most confused.
In Asia, while Vietnam, not unsurprisingly, reported a 5.4% year-on-year rise in leather footwear exports in January (see www.leatherbiz.com February 11, 2008); Taiwan saw footwear exports fall a massive 14.4% year-on-year in the same month.
The picture is no clearer in Europe either. While it was not totally unexpected that established production hubs such as France and Italy would continue to post a drop in leather and footwear production, more surprising was the news that it had also fallen in newer production centres such as Slovakia (see www.leatherbiz.com February 12, 2008). What further confuses the matter is the fact that other countries in the same region appear to have been performing well over the last year as the latest figures from the Czech Republic showed a 6% rise in shoe production in 2007.
