Dusseldorf (Germany): For the Europeans, shoes are not anything to be kept apart from important occasions or something down under the foot. It is billion dollar or rather a billion euro business which needs meticulous planning, excellent production skills, savvy fashion consciousness and adaptability and diligent marketing. Even though, they source shoes from Asia, India is nowhere in its marketing strategies or planning. But for the quota restrictions and personal level relationships some of the Indian manufacturers have with European buyers, most of them in Germany and the UK, Indian presence in the European market would have been close to nothing.The 15 EU countries produce over 1,000 million pairs of shoes, apart from importing over 800 million pairs from Asian countries. All these shoes are not used in Europe alone. The European Union (EU) countries export over 270 million pairs mainly to Switzerland, the USA, Russia, Canada and Japan.
The major supplier to the EU from Asia is China, which exportedabout 270 million pairs in 1998 (+1.8 per cent) with a price of 4.60 euro. The other nations from which EU imports footwear are Vietnam (146.7 million pairs at an average price of 6.57 euro), Indonesia (67 million pairs at 8.09 euro), Taiwan (37.8 million pairs at 5.35 euro), and Thailand (37.8 million pairs at 6.70 euro).
In this list India cannot find a place just because its total shoe export does not exceed 30 million pairs a year fetching less than $10 a piece. According to Philipp Urban, spokesperson of the CEC (European Confederation of the Footwear industry, Brussels), market experience and tailor-made product lines are the key to staying ahead in international competition.
Elaborating this concept at the GDS international shoe fair in Duselldorf, he said in the shoe industry this competition is marked by:-
Concepts such as continually increasing, extreme globalisation, concentration and a nearly 30 per cent surplus in shoe production;
Financial difficulties in many would-be buyercountries and o Economic depressions and unfortunately, many restrictions and administrative obstacles which hinder free global trade of goods.Having chalked out such a difficult times for the Europeans in the shoe trade, Urban has a note of warning to the developing countries. "This industry is also marked by a partially false understanding in some developing countries, or emerging markets which see the shoe industry as the spring board for their future economic upswing, and vigorously push it without taking fair competition and WTO rules among others into account."
Trading with Europe in shoes is becoming extremely difficult. The only means to survive and succeed is stressing constantly on quality, adaptation to fashions and maintaining delivery schedules. The GDS shoe fair has sent down at least one message to the global players-India can produce quality leathers and fashionable shoes. Friends of India in Europe will help companies ride on these qualifications in the vast expanse of the European shoemarket.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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