After an atypical 2022 with export growth of more than 20%, reaching a 2 009 million euros record, the Portuguese footwear sector resisted during the first quarter of the year - overall, the sector exported 20 million pairs worth 526 million euros. Compared to the previous year, there was a drop of 4.4% in volume, but an increase of 6.8% in value Moreover, the average price of Portuguese footwear increased year-over-year by 11.7% to 26.09 euros per pair.

“As anticipated, the year 2023 will be particularly challenging for the footwear sector, as a result of an economic slowdown common to most of the main destination markets of Portuguese footwear”, considers APICCAPS (the Portuguese Footwear, Components, Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association). As an example, highlights the Association, in Germany, which is a “reference market for Portuguese footwear”, according to the German trade association, one in every 10 shoe stores closed last year, resulting in a total of 1 500 closures. APICCAPS believes “there is the expectation that 2023 may be a year of consolidation of the Portuguese footwear abroad, but for this to happen, it is essential to redouble efforts to strengthen investments in external promotion and meet the new windows of opportunity”.

In practical terms, Portuguese footwear continues to strengthen its position in the main foreign markets, particularly in non-EU countries, which accounted for 18% of exports (as compared with 16% in the same period last year). In Europe, the performances in Germany (up by 4% to 115 million euros), France (up by 4.8% to 111 million euros) and the Netherlands (up by 7.7% to 81 million euros) stand out, while outside the EU community area, the highlight goes to the performances in the United Kingdom (up by 13.3% to 32 million), the US (up by 10% to 25 million euros) and Canada (up by 7.4% to 6 million euros).

By products, the leather segment continues to be the main driver of the sector, representing 86% of sales in the first quarter, with a growth of 9.4%, as compared to the first quarter of 2022. The best performance, however, was recorded in the “other plastic footwear” segment, with an increase of 18.3% to 26 million euros.

According to the APICCAPS periodical bulletin, “despite the slowdown in the economic situation, the majority of companies continues to consider that the state of activity is sufficient or good”. Regarding the second quarter of the year, namely in terms of production and order backlog, “stability” was the most frequent response from companies. More than four out of five companies (80%) think that their employment level will remain unchanged in the second quarter.