The Portuguese footwear industry's exports continue the growing path going up from 1 195.8 million euros in the first eight months in 2013 to 1 308.1 million euros in similar period in the current year.

Notwithstanding the good performance in the European Union markets (to where exports grew roughly 9%), the Portuguese footwear has most distinguished itself in other markets outside the Union, with global growth over 12%.

Two digits’ expansion across several markets was registered during the period, with countries such as Saudi Arabia (+158%), Hong Kong (+63%) and China (65%) registering growth rates that deserve to be highlighted.

A particular note to underline the performance of the Portuguese footwear exports to the American markets, growing by 52% in the first eight months of the year, mainly driven by a huge dynamic in the markets of the US (+74%), Colombia (+91%) and Canada (+29%).

Analyzing the monthly performance of the sector in August, total footwear exports reached 176 million euros, up by 0.2% from the value registered in similar month 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”.