Prague - A country that can boast of having one of the biggest shoe-maker born here - Tomáš Baťa - now faces millions of China-made shoes flooding the local markets.
There have never been more shoes imported from China to the Czech Republic.
Based on the analysis of The Czech Shoemakers Association, and customs statistics, there were up to 135 million pairs of shoes imported to the Czech Republic by the end of November last year.
With 119 million pairs sold in just one year, each Czech citizen thus bought on average more than 11 pairs of shoes made in China.
For the first time in history, the overall sum paid for the imported shoes broke the 9 billion CZK mark.
Re-exporting
According to the Association, it is a significantly higher figure than the Czech market can take.
"The market capacity is about 50 million pairs, which shows a consumption of 4-4.5 pairs of shoes per head per year," stated experts in the shoe-biz Vlasta Mayerová and Jaromír Šlágr.
And so, statistics confirm that part of the shoes imported from China, only enter other European markets through the Czech Republic.
The Shoemakers Association therefore believes that higher shoe export since we joined the EU is not due to bigger interest in Czech made shoes from local producers, but to the re-exporting of imported Chinese shoes.
Exporting to Slovakia may serve as the evidence. "It was reported that about a million pairs of shoes from the Czech Republic was exported to Slovakia in 2004, for an average exporting price of 318 CZK per pair, while in 2006 it was over 21 million pairs averaging a price of 52 CZK per pair," stated Mayerová.
Low prices
Last year, the average price of shoes exported to Slovakia was 89 CZK, and more than a million pairs averaging a price of 19 CZK was exported to Romania.
Exremely low prices are typical for shoes from China. In 2006, an average price of one pair produced in China was 42 CZK; it was only 34 CZK last year.
"You can´t even purchase material for that price in the Czech Republic, not to mention the price of the labor. However, figures show that shoes from China make up 87 per cent of all shoe imports in quantity of total shoe goods, comparable with only 40 per cent expressed in the value of the shoe goods," said Mayerová.
Czech made shoes
Czech and Moravian companies in the shoe industry did not do badly either last year. They managed to slightly increase production as well as earnings.
However, 6 per cent of a production increase in 2007, comparable with 2006, still made it the second worst record in history of Czech shoe-making.
"Thus, the Czech companies moved their production to the value-added category of the market, especially focusing on production of protective safety footwear for workers. They are also producing orthopedic, health, prophylactic and quality manufactured children footwear," added shoe-biz expert Mayerová.
During the interim of 1994, there were over 30 million pairs of shoes manufactured in the Czech Republic, continuing as one of the leaders in the market.
But the declining trend of the production is evident - in 2001 the Czech Republic produced about 12 million pairs, compared to only 5.5 million pairs last year.
