Trade Data Report: Export /Import Profile of the Global and U.S. Plastic Footwear

Exporters of Footwear by Country

China dominates the market for all types of footwear selling almost 28 billion dollars worth in 2009. China alone accounts for 81% of the world’s exporting market in footwear sales. Vietnam, the world’s second biggest seller, generated 3.7 billion dollars worth of sales in 2009 and accounted for 11% of the world’s sales. China’s percent of the world’s export market in footwear is represented by the red slice in the pie chart.

 Rubber and Plastic Footwear

Rubber and plastic footwear, recognized in the United States by Standard Industry Classification codes SIC: 3021 and internationally as HS: 6402, include ski boots, snow boots, sports footwear, sandals, and all other plastic and rubber footwear. Denver (Click here for WTD Denver market profile) based Crocs (click here for WTD Crocs Inc. market profile) which became popular with their 2002 rubber foam cogs also falls into this product code.

Importers of Rubber and Plastic Footwear by Country 

As the table bellow displays, the top eight importers all spent over a billion dollars in 2009 on rubber and plastic footwear. The top importer of rubber and plastic footwear in the world is the United States. In 2009 the United States spent 6.5 billion dollars on foreign-made rubber and plastic footwear. The U.S. were buyers of 19% of all the world’s exported rubber and plastic footwear. The second biggest buyer of this commodity was Japan who imported less than half as much as the United States, consuming 8% of the market. Japan was followed by Germany at 7%, France at 6%, and the United Kingdom at 3.6%. It is plain to see that weather resistant footwear has found a replenishing home in Western and more developed countries, but these countries are unwilling to manufacture and produce it.

China’s Exports of Rubber and Plastic Footwear to the United States

China dominates the world market in the rubber and plastic footwear industry. Their exports are almost identical to the trend of the top importing counties, with most of China’s exports going to the United States followed by Japan and then Germany. Using PIERS StatsPlus we can gain a historic view of the imports to the United States of rubber and plastic footwear from China. The following graph shows the growth of this market by year. United States’ imports of rubber and plastic footwear from China has almost doubled from 2003 to 2010. China sold the United States 2.8 billion dollars worth in 2003 and 5 billion dollars worth in 2010.

U.S. Imports of Rubber and Plastic Footwear from China

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