There is broad space of cooperation for the development of China-Pak footwear industry as Pakistan’s exports soar, according to a report of China Economic Net (CEN).
Pakistan’s footwear exports achieved double-digit growth. Its footwear exports in the first eight months of the 2021-2022 fiscal year reached USD 104 million, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%, and the export volume was 12.09 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.08%, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Among them, in addition to the export value increase of its traditional advantage products, leather footwear increased by 12.76%, canvas footwear and other footwear increased by as high as 181.89% and 40.58% respectively.
As the seventh-largest footwear producer, Pakistan accounts for more than 2.4% of world footwear production, but footwear contributes less than 1% to its global exports. For a long time, Pakistan’s footwear industry has been eager to enhance its global competitiveness and expand the scale of exports through measures such as technological upgrading, import substitution of footwear materials, and improvement of labor quality. Based on CPEC’s substantial improvement of infrastructure including power and transportation, Pakistan hopes to bring in more Chinese shoe-making industries.
Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, said in early March that “footwear industry is one of the four investment areas that Chinese companies could be lured to invest in Pakistan, especially where Pakistan have a potential to export its products.”
How attractive is Pakistan to Chinese footwear companies? What is the space for cooperation between the footwear industries of the two countries? Chen Qianjiang, CEO of a Chinese footwear company Zung Lan Trading (Pvt) Ltd, who has four years of business experience in Lahore—INP
