"East Shoe Westward Shift" Is Becoming A Trend

Yesterday, the fourth China Western International Footwear Fair was held in the shoe industrial park of Western China, Bishan County, Chongqing. 15 shoe leather enterprises such as AOKANG and Jill reached the fair.

This year, more Chinese Eastern and southern shoe brands are exhibiting in the West and have international brands.

As the co organizer of the Expo, AOKANG group responsible person said that with the increasing cost of the East, and the cost advantage of the west, the trend of "East shoe westward shift" is becoming more and more obvious.

The Expo was held in the leather city of Western China, which has just been put into operation. The leather city is one of the key projects of Western China's shoes city jointly built by AOKANG group and Chongqing Bishan government in January 2003. Its construction area is 32000 square meters. It is the largest professional leather mall in Western China.

Since 2003, AOKANG has come to Bishan county to develop the West shoe capital. Now, more than 1300 related shoe making industries from the East, the South and the West (including local enterprises) have entered the shoes market of Western China. They produce about 60000000 pairs of leather shoes annually, and the output value reaches 4 billion 570 million yuan.

According to the briefing, there are 1200 standard booths and trading shops in the Western China International Footwear Industry Fair, an increase of 3 times compared with the previous one, including 14 shoe leather enterprises abroad.

At the opening ceremony, Zhang Shuhua, chairman of the China Leather Association, said that upgrading from the regional exhibition to an international exposition shows that the footwear industry in the west is heading for internationalization, and the western footwear market is gradually becoming a new market for China's footwear industry.

Jiang Yuanwu, general manager of AOKANG Chongqing AOKANG Real Estate Co., Ltd., believes that the development of western footwear industry has entered a peak period.

"Compared with the eastern coast, the production cost of 20% pairs of shoes is saved for every pair of shoes produced in Bishan County, Chongqing.

Western enterprises export logistics costs account for about 20% of the total product cost, while the cost of waterway pportation is only half of the highway and 1/3 of the railway.

He said that these are no longer the case of an enterprise. The obvious cost advantage in the West has made it a trend to reduce the cost of "moving east shoes to the west".