NEWS News briefs . . .
• Faced with a major increase in orders for Romika, the Josef Seibel group is setting up a new factory for direct PU injection at Csenger in Hungary that should come on stream at the end of March, with a daily capacity of 9,800 pairs per shift. Without giving a specific sales figure, Seibel says Romika’s revenues grew by 24.4% in 2010 and should increase by a further 30% in 2011.
• Daniel Footwear, The British shoe retailer has bought Rojo Shoes, adding two stores in London and one in Belfast, expanding its chain to a total of 5 stores. Founded in 1992, Daniel specialises in designer brands such as Prada, D&G and UGG. It has about 140 employees. Barclays helped with a £700,000 funding package.
• Two undergraduates from Northampton University spent three months working at internships in Guangzhou, China, thanks to a programme by the British Footwear Association in conjunction RADISSHMe, a footwear design studio in southern China. Samantha Morria and Phillippa Tatt were chosen and sponsored by RADISSHMe, which was founded by Ajoy Sahu, a former designer for Prada Sport. The studio works with a range of customers from high-end designers to sportswear brands.
• The dates of next summer’s edition of Modacalzado are confirmed for September 1-2, contrary to a press report.
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European anti-dumping duties will be phased out in April
The European Union will not renew its anti-dumping duties on imports of
leather shoes from China and Vietnam after they expire on March 31. As it turns out, the European Shoe industry federation, CEC, did propose their extension before Christmas after an internal vote, providing evidence of continued dumping. However, after a series of meetings with his office, the EU trade Commissioner, Karel de Gucht indicated that there was insufficient political will for a new antidumping investigation. Sources indicate that his priority is to improve trade relations with China in every respect. The last of those meetings took place in the middle of January, triggering CEC’s final decision not to pursue the matter further. A press release circulation by CEC through the Italian shoe industry association Anci, announced its new position, but points out that the Commission had agreed to monitor shoe imports from China, Vietnam and other sources on a weekly basis to assess the application of fair trade principles after the duties are lifted next April. The Commission will hold quarterly meetings with the two governments and put extra pressure on the Chinese government to open up its market for shoe imports from Europe, the Ancu/CEC statement said. According to Anci officials, the new surveillance mechanism will be a test
for new and more stringent criteria to determine dumping, possibly leading to a new complaint after four to six months. Vito Artioli, chairman of Anci and CEC, praised the Commission’s efforts to foster fair trade and monitor the “real intentions” of the two countries. He said that, if its monitoring activities reveal the persistence of dumping practices, the Commission would be ready to introduce new anti-dumping proceedings. He stated that CEC was ready to accept free competition, provided the rules of free trade are respected. De Gucht’s liberal stance on the issue followed intense lobbying by the
Footwear Alliance with the individual governments of the EU. The Footwear Alliance represents the German shoe manufacturers association (HDS), the European Sporting Goods Industry Federation (Fesi) and major European shoe importers. However, the Footwear Alliance wants to ensure that the monitoring criteria adopted by the Commission to determine possible dumping are fair The German government has already stated that it did not want the anti- dumping measures to remain in place after March 2011, when it surprisingly supported them at the end of 2009, tilting the balance in the final hair-split vote that sanctioned their continuation. This time, sources said, even the Italian government backed off, indicating that is was more interested in pushing for mandatory labels of imports on footwear, textiles and other products into the EU, in line with the recent vote of the European Parliament. Anyhow, the lifting of the anti-dumping duties is a welcome bonus for
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European shoe-importers as they start selling their autumn-winter 2011 collections. It will be interesting to check out the reactions on the pricing front. Many has already decided to raise their prices or to lower their mark- ups for the collections sourced from China and Vietnam because of the rising value of the US dollar and the rising cost of new materials, Chinese labour and shipping. Others had been considering major shifts in production to other countries, costly in the Far East. The lifting of anti- dumping duties may change their attitudes.
www.shoeintelligence.com 4 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • FEBRUARY 2011
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