China'S Footwear Exports Break Through In The Predicament

In Fujian, Jinjiang, the largest sports shoes production base in China, the annual international footwear Expo becomes a weathervane for observing the development of industry.

The Tenth China (Jinjiang) International Shoe Fair, which opened for four days, was opened on the 19 th, and more than 1500 professional buyers from more than 60 countries and regions in the world came to the conference to purchase. The scenes gathered by merchants seemed to have forgotten the export predicament that the shoe industry is facing now.

RMB appreciation, raw material prices and workers are hard to recruit. Jinjiang shoe companies generally claim that "this year is the most difficult year to sustain."

But reporters also learned that many enterprises actively seek breakthroughs in product innovation and management improvement, and external pressure is pforming into the internal driving force for self pformation of enterprises.

Some industry experts also said that the crisis faced by many enterprises is also a turning point for the upgrading of the whole industry. The new round of industrial integration will make Jinjiang more competitive in the division of the global sports shoes industry.

The most difficult year to sustain is 1 billion pairs of output, accounting for 40% of the national market and 20% of the global market. The ups and downs of the footwear industry in Jinjiang are affecting the whole country and even the world's sports shoes market.

There are more than 3000 sports shoe companies, and the most difficult year to support is almost the common aspiration of journalists.

"We mainly export, do not know when the appreciation of the renminbi is the bottom, long-term and large orders are afraid to pick up, only to take some short-term bills.

At this stage, it is necessary to maintain certain production and keep old customers, and profits will not be forced. "

Ding Zhenmou, chairman of Jinjiang step Light Industry Co., Ltd.

In the hundreds of workers, the small shoe business Flying Leopard company, boss Lin Peiqing said: "the company's export target for Eastern Europe and Russia, Mexico and other places, last year this time has produced five containers, this year is only a container, can hold up to when dare not say."

Lin Peiqing, who has been making shoes for 20 years, has never thought that shoe factory is the most difficult task.

As for the rising cost, Yang Fan, director of a shoe factory, listed the specific figures: the wages of the general workers increased by 10% to 20%, and even the skilled workers even reached 30%; the raw materials were on the rise, the cartons of the packaging shoes soared 50%, and the soles increased by 30%, resulting in the cost of a pair of adult shoes at least up 10%.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are so, but the large shoe enterprises in Jinjiang have more confidence in the current predicament and remain optimistic about the prospects.

Mr Cheng, director of brand operation, said that the rise of raw materials and labor costs has a great impact on the operation of enterprises. But as an enterprise, first of all, efforts should be made to improve the level of internal management and reduce production and operation costs, so as not to shift all the pressure of rising costs to consumers.

Data from the Jinjiang inspection and Quarantine Bureau showed that, in the first quarter of this year, Jinjiang exported a total of 12832 batches and 106 million 850 thousand pairs of export footwear products, down 12.12% and 0.42% from the same period last year. However, as the average manufacturing cost of footwear industry increased, the export unit price rose, and the total amount continued to grow, reaching 333 million US dollars, an increase of 9.14% over the same period last year.

Du Shaoxun, an expert in sports shoes design at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, said that the current export price of domestic sports shoes is about $3.6 per pair, while the price of second-class brands in the world is about $60 / double, and the room for promotion is still huge.

Jinjiang step family Light Industry Co., Ltd. last year, the size of more than 1000 workers, this year fell to less than 1000 people, "no profit" let the company responsible person began to reflect, how much longer can we rely on increasing workers' scale of production expansion.

In this company, a new set of equipment has been assembled and will be used to produce a new sneaker from Taiwan.

"In the past, we always thought of expanding production scale, constantly turning over the list and recruiting workers continuously, but profit margins were getting lower and lower, and profits did not increase.

To increase the added value of each pair of shoes, this requires companies to constantly develop new products, "Ding Zhenmou said.

Self mockery of "two legs in the mud" Lin Peiqing, this year began to try the domestic market, but the start is not smooth.

"The establishment of domestic marketing channels and the promotion of the market will involve a lot of investment, especially in enterprises that have just entered the domestic market, and the pition is not easy."

Reporters learned that the shoe buyers from abroad still have a continuous stream of buyers. Xu Ziyu, director of the Commerce Committee of the Philippines General Chamber of Commerce, procured more than 40 people.

"Temporary price increases will have an impact on exports, but in the long run, the demand for China's footwear industry in the international market is still strong."

Xu Yang, director of Anta brand management center, a leading footwear enterprise in Jinjiang, said that China's sports population is in the billions of units. However, the average Chinese people spend only three pairs of shoes per year and only 1.2 pairs of sports shoes. The annual demand for sports shoes in the United States is seven to eight pairs. Only in the domestic market, the space for Jinjiang shoe enterprises to develop is still very large.

The industry integration is starting at the Taiwan Pavilion of Jinjiang Shoe Expo. Shoe making machinery has become the focus of Taiwan enterprises.

For the current export difficulties facing the shoe industry, Song Zijing from Taiwan tigang precision machinery Polytron Technologies Inc regards this as the beginning of industrial integration.

Song Zijing cites the history of the development of footwear industry in Taiwan. Taiwan has been the largest shoemaking base in the world, and finally achieved the lowest cost manufacturing through industrial integration and created the core competitiveness.

Even today, the footwear industry of Taiwan continues to develop on the mainland and other parts of the world with its brand and technological advantages.

Lin Peiqing told reporters that next step he might abandon the production of the whole shoe instead of specializing in the production of a spare part.

In Song Zijing's view, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises abandon the whole shoe and specialize in one process, which is the trend of the division of labor in the industrial division.

"A few leading enterprises have brand and sales channels, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises around their supporting production, reduce the cost maximization, and provide the most competitive sports shoes globally, which is the result of industrial integration.

But this kind of industrial integration only depends on the strength of the market, and when a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are generally faced with survival difficulties, integration will naturally start.

Song Zijing said.