France records an increase in exports of leather goods - 7% and exports of footwear - 8%.

French leather sells well for export! In the first six months of the year, French exports of leather products (leather accessories, shoes, leather raw materials) increased by 6,9% compared to the result for the same period last year. The growth in export deliveries of leather goods amounted to 8%, which corresponds to a turnover of 29 billion euros, and shoe sales increased by 8%, reaching 1,4 billion euros. Such data are given in the report of the National Leather Council of France.

French leather goods are popular in Asia

One of France’s main customers in relation to the leather goods segment is Hong Kong. The export of leather goods from France to Hong Kong in the first half of 2016 compared to the result for the same period of 2015 of the year increased by 12% and amounted to 390 million euros. Experts note that for France this is a very good indicator, since in 2015 the opposite was observed in sales of French leather goods - exports fell 385 million euros in the first half of 2014 year to 347 million euros in the first half of 2015. This decrease was explained by the negative influence of the anti-corruption activities of the Chinese Government, the fight against corruption had a particularly pronounced effect on sales of luxury goods, which are well represented in Hong Kong. For Hong Kong, France is the second largest supplier of leather goods after China.

In China, the export of French leather goods in the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2015 increased by 11%. This increase can be almost completely associated with the luxury segment, about 80% of export sales are bags. Singapore first entered the top three customers in France after China and Hong Kong. Sales in this country almost doubled (90%) - from 193 to 367 million euros. According to experts, the luxury industry in Singapore is growing rapidly, the demand for luxury goods continues to grow. Sales of bags in value terms reached 196 million euros, representing 53% of France's total exports to Singapore. The volume of exports of small leather goods, whose share is about 30%, is 110 million euros.

At the same time, sales of French leather goods in Japan decreased - the volume of French exports of leather goods to this country decreased by 46%. In 2014, the average price of bags exported from France to Japan was about 241 euros. Then it rose to 332 euros in the 2015 year and this year again fell to 209 euros. The Japanese today are focused on the purchase of less expensive goods.

A steady increase in exports of French leather goods is observed in the United States. Deliveries increased by 29% in the first half of 2015 compared to the first half of 2014, and over the six months of 2016 it again increased by another 5%.

Shoe exports from France grew by 8%

Advertising

Advertising of Business Global Expo LLC, Taxpayer Identification Number (INN) 7710961530, erid: 2W5zFJRB7Va

As for the French footwear sector, its growth amounted to 8%, the volume reached 1,47 billion euros, such results were achieved due to the popularity of sports-style shoes. Sales of French shoes to European countries for the six months of this year increased by 13% compared with the result of the first half of 2015. The number of pairs of shoes sold remained stable in the first half of 2016 and amounted to 47,9 million pairs. In total, 13 million pairs of shoes were exported from France, which is 900 thousand pairs less than in the 2015 year. The decline in sales of leather-topped shoes affected most countries of France's main customers (Germany, Italy, Spain, and Belgium).

The export of hides increased by 6%, the export of finished cattle and sheep leather increased in value by 20% (53 million euros) and 10% (32 million euros), respectively.

Source: Le Moci (Moniteur du Commerce International)