Worrying decline in global footwear trade
A weak demand in two of the main footwear consumer markets, the U.S. and Europe, resulted in a global slowdown in international trade throughout 2023.
Given that the majority of footwear exports come from Asia (83.9% in 2022), we decided to look first at this continent, starting with China, which exports over 70% of its production and whose footwear exports reached a new record of US$ 58 billion in 2022. This Asian giant has experienced a 3% drop in volume and a 13% drop in value from January to November 2023, compared to the same period in 2022; the value per pair has also significantly fallen, by 10%.
The available data for Vietnam is also not encouraging: having become the second-largest footwear exporter in the world over the last decade, the value of Vietnam's footwear exports fell by 17% year on year during the same period. Indonesia followed a similar trend. The value of its footwear exports dropped by 20% between January and September 2023, comparable to the same period in 2022: a year marked by significant export growth of around 25%, surpassing the US$ 10 billion mark.
The highlight was the sixth-largest export in terms of volume, India, which experienced a 17% increase in export volume and a 30% growth in export value in 2022. The available data for the first ten months of 2023 show that this country experienced an 11% decline in volume and a 17% decline in value, falling 6% year on year during this period.
In the American continent, Brazil, whose footwear production mainly serves its domestic market, also had significant export growth in 2022. However, this trend stopped in 2023: from January to November, its footwear exports fell by 9% in volume and 14% in value, decreasing by 6% per pair compared to the same period the previous year.
From January to September 2023, footwear imports from the 27 EU countries decreased by 11% in volume year on year, reflecting a decline in shoe consumption in the region. But perhaps the most significant consumption data comes from the U.S., which was the destination for one in five pairs of shoes traded internationally in 2022, with a global share of 20.5%. In the first eleven months of the year, U.S. footwear imports dropped by 30% in both volume and value, compared to the same months the previous year.
While we still have to wait for the final data in 2023, it is safe to say that in a year marked by high inflation and a higher cost of living, there was indeed a slowdown in global footwear trade; and perhaps a small adjustment after the overall recovery to pre-pandemic levels.
Source: WORLD FOOTWEAR
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