World Footwear published 1st Semester 2020 report of International Footwear Trade: The Impact of the Pandemic. This report describes the evolution of footwear trade worldwide in the first semester of 2020, using the data available as of September 2020. The figures presented, both for the current and previous years, correspond only to the countries that had reported their trade statistics by that date.
According to report, Footwear exports worldwide fell by 17 billion dollars (31.1%) in the first semester of 2020. The world’s largest footwear exporter (China) and importer (USA) were particularly hit. Leather footwear exports fell some 7 billion dollars (-32.7%), compared with the same period of the previous year, the largest loss by category of product. The situation deteriorated continuously in the
first months of the year, reaching its lowest in April, when exports were only 42% of January’s. In the following two months, there was a significant recovery but, by June, exports were still less than 80% than in January
Most countries’ individual evolution does not deviate much from these general patterns.
Asian markets seem to have stood the pandemic better than those of Europe and America. Korea’s imports fell only -2.8% in the first semester and China’s actually increased 2.3%. In several Asian countries, imports contracted significantly in February but have since shown no definite trend. In other parts of the world, there was a continuous decline until April, and sometimes May, before the first signs of recovery appeared. www.worldfootwear.com
