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Chinese shoes hurting local shoemakers’ business

By Moonis Ahmed

KARACHI: The local shoemaking industry is suffering from depleted sales as Chinese shoes have flooded the local market, making it hard for the local companies to compete with the Chinese products, manufacturers told Daily Times.

The sales of local branded shoes have come down by 50 percent due to massive availability of cheap Chinese products in major cities, said the marketing manager of the leading local company. He said Chinese products have not only affected the major brands, but the business of small shoemakers in the unorganised sector has also been badly disturbed.

Cheap Chinese shoes are widely available in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. In Karachi, the main markets of Chinese shoes are Saddar and Lighthouse, where these products are not only available at shops but also on carts.

Huge price difference: “The Chinese have been dumping shoes in large quantities because their prices are far less than the locally manufactured shoes,” said Farhat Khan, a Chinese shoe vendor at Lighthouse. It is very difficult for the local shoemakers to compete with them due to a huge price difference, he added.

“The prices of local branded shoes start from Rs 600, while the best quality Chinese shoes are available at nominal price Rs 400,” said Khan.

“Certain people have a monopoly on this trade and they do not allow entry to others,” said Irfan Ramiz, a shoe vender at Saddar. He said hundreds of trucks loaded with Chinese shoes enter the city every week.

While the European Union and the United States have raised serious questions about the flood of Chinese shoes, Pakistani manufacturers also find it hard to survive the onslaught of smuggled and under-invoiced Chinese shoes. They say if the government does not impose large duties on shoe imports from China, the industry might soon collapse.

Pakistan’s shoemakers are also losing shares in global shoes markets due to a cut-throat competition with China, said an exporter, adding that the government should have caught those involved in over-invoicing instead of cutting the rebate, which is creating problems for everyone.

Ramiz said during these tough times when inflation is high in the country, the consumers prefer to buy Chinese products, which are comparatively cheaper and their quality is also satisfactory.

Pakistan is still strong in most of the European and Middle East markets where Chinese products are not popular.

“Although there are not many problems while exporting our products, selling them locally in case of overproduction has become difficult due to inconvenient and delaying government procedures,” said another vendor.

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