Slovak footwear manufacturing sees steep decline

2010-01-13

Some 6.8 million pairs of shoes were produced in Slovakia during the first nine months of 2009, which represented a year-on-year decline of 17.1%. The total value of production output from the leather and shoe manufacturing industry dropped by 1.4% over the period to €287.2m.
The decline is attributed predominately to the drop in demand for footwear products, both from exporting destinations and the domestic market, according to the Union of the Leather and Shoe Industry (ZKOP) in Slovakia, which expects a similar situation in 2010. The recovery of the shoe production industry in Slovakia depends largely on the economic outlook in Europe. Slovak shoe producers export 90% of their total production with the biggest export markets for the country’s industry being Germany, Italy, France and Denmark.
The influx of cheaper products from Asia – mainly China and Vietnam – served only to exacerbate the situation for Slovak footwear production in 2009. The number of people employed by the industry declined in 2009 by 16.3%, according to ZKOP.