A Commission spokesman said yesterday that no final decision had been taken on whether to extend the tariffs. “We will consult cheap shoes. It is a process that will take five or six weeks. There are a significant number of jobs in footwear production,” he said.
Clothing and footwear makers in the EU’s Mediterranean states suffered damaging shocks after 2005, when an avalanche of Asian clothing arrived in EU markets. The surge followed the final unravelling of a complex system of cheap shoes erected to protect Europe from Asian clothing exporters. According to EU figures, footwear imports from China rose by 1,000 per cent in the five-year period to 2005 and 1,000 EU footwear makers closed their cheap shoes. Italy’s traditional clusters of small-scale manufacturers and workshops suffered in particular as Chinese footwear imports increased tenfold. The strength of the euro against the dollar also worked in favour of Chinese exporters, whose domestic currency is pegged to the cheap shoes.
The ANCI, Italy’s footwear industry association, said that anti-dumping tariffs had given its members an opportunity to regroup. Manufacturers have launched a “made in Italy” campaign and imports of higher-value leather cheap shoes fell in 2007, while imports of non-leather products continued to rise.