Spanish footwear exports improve, during the period from January to May 2022

According to the latest report of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, in the first five months of 2022, Spanish firms sold abroad shoes worth 1321.3 million euros.

Compared to the same period of 2021, exports were 20.3% higher, while in relation to the accumulated January-May 2020 the value of exports increased by 36.1%.

If we compare the results of the first five months of the current year with those prior to the appearance of covid in 2019, we find that the current ones exceed those of three years ago by 4%.

Analyzing exports by country it is important to remark that sales to the different EU markets continue to exceed 70% of the total invoiced.

Comparing the figures with the same period in 2019, the year before the pandemic, we can see that the most important increases have been in France (+7.2%), Italy (+8.4%), Germany (+9, 1%), Portugal (+15.7%), Poland (+47.6%), Netherlands (+26.1%), Turkey (+69.6%), Canada (+10.9%), Ireland (+79.3%), Sweden (+50.6%), Switzerland (+14.4%), Israel (+47.7%) or UAE (+27.7%).

The strength of the Spanish footwear sector abroad has been favored by an unusual euro-dollar parity, which has resulted in exports currently registering one of the highest rates ever seen.

The other side of the coin in the destination of sales in international markets can be seen in the Chinese market, with a significant decrease of -43.5%, Japan with -12.2% or Denmark with -24.5%.

Also, Russia and Ukraine have suffered the consequences of the war with significant drops in sales figures, with -62.4% and -54.2%, respectively, comparing these percentages with respect to the same period of 2021.

As for imports, in the first five months of this year, Spain purchased footwear abroad for an accumulated value of 1595.8 million euros. Our purchases abroad increased with respect to the same period of 2021 by 35.8%.
Consequently, and as usual in recent years, the footwear trade balance during the period January-May 2022 showed an overall imbalance in favor of imports of 274.5 million euros, 77.1%.