Spanish footwear exports increase in the first quarter
In the first three months of 2023, Spanish footwear exports increased by 21% in value due to the impact of inflation, but remained below pre-pandemic levels in volume terms
According to the General Bureau of Customs, in the first quarter of the year,Spanish footwear companies exportedclose to 42.4 million pairs of shoes, generating 910.8 million euros. These figures reflect anincreaseof 3.2% in volume and 21% in value, as compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Theaverage price per pairsold stood at 21.5 euros in this period.
The data also shows that, by value,Spain’s main destination marketswere France (up by 22.1%), Italy (up by 41.5%), Germany (up by 12.6%), Portugal (up by 25.1%) and the US (down by 2.5%).
Theincrease in prices, driven by high inflation,boosted the value of Spanish exports, but this growth has not been reflected in the number of pairs soldin this period; despite being higher than last year, thevolume of exports remains below pre-pandemic levels. So, when compared with the first quarter of 2019, the country’s footwear exports fell by 3.7% in volume but grew by 16.8% in value.
Concerningimports, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Spain purchased 93.5 million pairs of shoes, worth 1 225.4 million euros, up by 11.9% in volume and 29.6% in value, on a comparable basis to the first quarter of 2022; when compared with the first three months of 2019, Spanish footwear imports rose by 2.1% in volume and 45.6% in value.
Spanish Footwear Industry
The World Footwear 2022 Yearbook (more informationavailable HERE) indicates thatSpain is among the world’s top 10 exporters, and it is the 11thbiggest importer of footwear worldwide. Mainly concentrated in Valencia, its footwear industry ranks among the world’s top 20 producers. In 2021, the industry recovered in large part from the previous year’s decline, with production and exports growing strongly.