China’s market share of U.S. footwear imports continues to slide.
For the first five months of the year, China’s share of U.S. footwear imports fell to 48.2 percent in value terms to $4.96 billion year over year, down from 49.5 percent last month, according to new data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA).
While China still holds a 65.28 percent market share in volume terms, the 645.28 million pairs shipped to the U.S. for the year through May is still 14.5 percent less than the same period a year ago, according to OTEXA. At the same time, the next five top suppliers posted increases in the value of footwear shipments to the U.S., as sourcing patterns have been impacted by the U.S.-China trade war and the continued threat of steeper tariffs.
However, at least one major importers isn’t shifting its strategy.
Nike Inc. said last week that it currently sources roughly 25 percent of its product from Chinese producers and will continue to do so. The athletic gear retailer said it expects any exposure to footwear tariffs would be “relatively modest.”
“The short of it is we’ve got a relatively agile approach to sourcing multiple nodes from a production and distribution perspective,” Andy Campion, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nike, said.
Footwear imports from No. 2 supplier Vietnam rose 10.5 percent in value to $4.96 billion, giving it a 26.7 percent market share, compared to 25.6 percent last month. When looking at volume, Vietnam’s market share rose to 21 percent, as the country shipped 207.29 million pairs in the period, a 15.31 percent increase from the year-ago period.
Footwear imports from Indonesia were up 0.75 percent to $744.87 million for the year through May, Italy’s shipments rose 4.3 percent $621.19 million, India’s were up 6.5 percent to $183.54 million and Cambodia’s increased 29.3 percent to $167.51 million.
Among second-tier suppliers, footwear imports from Mexico and the Dominican Republic were down, while shipments from Spain and Brazil were up.