The Indonesian footwear sector is in a state of euphoria over the fact that prospects of sales in domestic and overseas markets have increased due to a slowdown in imports of Chinese footwear and a rise in demand from the European Union.
Sales in the domestic markets have visibly increased since the government clamped down on imports from China by reducing the number the number of ports of entry to crack down on illegal imports, which was hurting the local producers.
On the other hand footwear exporters are optimistic of growth in shipments from the country by at least 5 percent in the second half of 2009, due to a renewal in demand from the overseas markets, mainly the European Union.
The European Union absorbs 37 percent of all footwear shipments from the country. At the same time, local manufacturers have been able to increase their market shares by more than 7 percent due to clamp down on imports.
Shoe production reached 1.2 billion pairs last year and is dominated by sports shoes which account for about 800 million pairs. Domestic sales touched 235 million pairs, of which 40 percent were manufactured locally and the rest imported.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India