Faced with less Chinese supply, Mexico takes advantage to sell more shoes to the USA
In the post-pandemic period, sectoral entities and the state government speeded up a joint strategic plan to promote the Mexican footwear industry, in particular that of Guanajuato, the most important in the country in terms of volumes and turnover.
CICEG, Chamber of the Footwear Industry of Guanajuato, COFOCE, Coordinator for the Promotion of Foreign Trade, the State government itself and the municipality of León/Gto, among others, continue with the objective of expanding markets, taking into account the new prevailing conditions in the international arena, as a result of the trade restrictions imposed by the United States on China, and the diversification of supply sources that is currently registered in the global market, due to remaining problems of Covid-19 and logistics from Asian countries.
The presence of CICEG leaders at the "Global Shoe Sourcing and Supply Chain Summit" forum in New York, organized last July by the FDRA, the largest business and trade association of the footwear industry in the United States, was very important. There, in addition to participating in a vast program with current and interesting topics, as well as debates and analysis of situations, it was a propitious moment for the representatives of Mexico, to make contact with prominent operators and inform about their footwear offer.
Simultaneously, different Mexican companies and industries participated in a trade mission that visited San Diego in California; Dallas in Texas; Atlanta in Georgia and New York. The action was prior to SAPICA, with the purpose of capturing and inviting buyers to the largest footwear fair in Mexico, which was held in León between August 23th and 25th.
In this regard, the director of Foreign Trade and International Business of the CICEG, Daniel Sepúlveda Curiel, explained that given the different current economic conditions, such as the inflationary situation and the T-MEC, as well as the need for the state footwear sector to recover from the pandemic, is that for this year a joint effort was carried out to attract the largest retail companies in the United States. “Large wholesalers, well-known brands, department and independent stores, and boutiques, among others, were invited”, he added.
In addition to buyers from the United States, the largest recipient of Mexican footwear, merchants from Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Peru and Chile arrived.
According to CICEG authorities, shipments abroad tend to reach an increase of 50% over the previous year, driven by larger purchases from the United States, the trade war with China and other production and logistics problems in Asia.
The Mexican footwear industry estimates that between 32 and 35 million pairs will be exported in 2022, an increase of more than 50% compared to the 22 million pairs sold in 2019.
In 2021, shipments to the United States alone increased by 55% with 29 million pairs worth US$ 632 million.
The Guanajuato industry expects to manufacture 220 million pairs by 2022, 12% below 2019 -before the pandemic- when they were 250 million. The state of Guanajuato represents 70% of the national production of footwear.
Products in greatest demand are cowboy boots and different types of leather footwear, such as casual shoes for women and men.
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