Spanish footwear exports slowed down in the second half of 2023
According to the Spanish Federation of the Footwear Industry (FICE), the country’s footwear exports reached 3.26 billion euros in 2023, an increase of 6.6% as compared to the previous year, when exports surpassed the 3 billion euros mark. However, in terms of volume, footwear exports were down by 0.23% year-over-year to 158.4 million pairs.
“Beyond the figures, companies are very concerned about the situation the sector is going through, mainly due to a fall in consumption, inflation and the difficult international climate created by all the current geopolitical events”, said Imanol Martínez, the marketing and international business development director at Fice, highlighting the slowdown in the second half of the year.
A strong start with double-digit value growth couldn’t offset the downward trend later in the year, fuelled by a “decline in consumer spending and unfavourable macroeconomic and weather conditions”, added the association. In the first half of last year, exports grew by 1.7% in volume and 14.4% in value year-over-year, but fell by 2.3% in volume and 0.3% in value year-over-year in the second semester.
The data also shows that the volume of exports to France and Germany, main destination markets for Spanish footwear, decreased by 2.1% and 11% in 2023, respectively, on a comparable basis to the previous year. However, there was an increase in exports to Italy, Portugal, Greece and Eastern Europe, in particular Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic. Outside the EU, exports fell by 26% in the United States, by 20% in Canada and by 13% in Mexico.
“The UK continues to fall in the ranking, and we have not been able to stop the decline. And we are still far away from recovering in Asian markets such as Japan, China and South Korea”, added Imanol Martínez.
Spanish Footwear Industry
According to the World Footwear 2023 Yearbook (more information available HERE), the Spanish footwear industry, concentrated mainly in the Valencia region, is one of the world’s top 20 producers. Spain's main markets for footwear exports include major European economies such as France, Italy, Germany and neighbouring Portugal.
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