According to APICCAPS, the Portuguese Footwear, Components and Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association, during the first six months of the year the industry managed to increment sales abroad by 12%, growing from 789 million euros in 2013 to 885 million euros in the current year. The industry strengthened its position in the European Union, growing roughly 11%. It is, however, outside Europe that the Portuguese footwear has most distinguished itself, with a growth over 23%.

Two digits’ expansion across several markets was registered in the semester, with countries such as Saudi Arabia (156.1%), Hong Kong (+147.7%), China (100.9%) and the United States (92.3%) registering growth rates that deserve to be highlighted.

In terms of the sectors’ performance in the month of June, total footwear exports reached 176 million euros, up by 15.5% from the 152 million euros registered in June 2013, making this the second best monthly performance in 2014 in terms of registered growth rates (exports only performed better in April 2014 growing 18.3% from similar period in 2013).

According to the Portuguese association: “These numbers reinforce the recent performance of the industry which has grown abroad more than 40%, over the past four years”, and are the result of a strategy to diversify away the destination markets, as one of the goals of the Portuguese footwear industry is to deepen the presence in new markets, so that extra EU exports represent 20% of the total sales abroad by 2020.

As reported by APICCAPS, is not just the exports dynamic that currently characterize the industry, but also employment growth. More than one thousand new jobs have been announced recently and will be implemented throughout the current year. As stated by the association “the industry’s strategy is to improve the ability to respond rapidly, focusing on direct contact with customers”.