Footwear industry urges Govt to check cheap imports
07 Apr '06
1 min read
Cheap footwear imports from the Far East countries have caused damage to local shoe manufacturers, said Gershon Broshi, CEO, Caligula Industries and a representative of Manufacturers Association.
Broshi said that the imports came from footwear producers like Thailand, China, Hong Kong and South Korea. Turkey also dominates imports figures with one million pairs and shoe parts at a cost $7.5 million, an increase of 41 percent compared to 2004.
Imports from Asia increased 9.5 percent in 2005 and from China by 24 percent. Footwear to the tune of 26 million were imported from the Far East at a cost $124.4 million. Imports from China alone shot up to 20.7 million items at a cost of $80.3 million.
Footwear manufacturers are to request the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labor to impose anti-dumping duties on imports from the Far East.
They claim that the shoes imported from Far East are of inferior quality and not suited to the size and shape of Israeli feets nor the local climate, however, cheap prices of such goods make it difficult for them to compete.
In an effort to compete with the influx of cheap imports, local manufacturers have reduced prices of footwear by 9 percent.
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