The Chinese Ministry of Finance announced they will cut duties by half, on average, on imported goods such as suits, fur garments and other clothing, skin care products and shoes from the 1st of June onwards.

This measure comes at a time when the Chinese authorities look for ways to boost domestic demand and national spending within their borders, and follows a slowdown in domestic retail sales and in the economic activity.

Recent statistics indicate that the country is growing at its slowest rate since 2009 (7% growth in the first quarter of the year).

With the duty reductions, authorities expect to encourage local consumers to spend more, either by generically increasing consumption or by replacing shopping made when travelling abroad. The tariff reduction is seen by the Chinese government as an "important measure to create stable growth and push forward structural reform".

Lowering import tariffs is good news for Chinese consumers, but also represents an interesting opportunity for international companies and brands acting in the Chinese market, as the lower tax would give imported products a more competitive positioning in price terms.

If the reduction in tariffs is applied in the same terms to all imported leather footwear, then the 10% rate applied to most shoes from this category will reduce to 5%, and the 24% tariff applied to most footwear with uppers in man-made materials and textiles will be reduced to 12%.

The World Footwear Yearbook estimated that in 2013 China was the largest consumer of footwear, with a 19% share in global consumption, corresponding to roughly 3.7 billion pairs of shoes.