Decline in Chinese imports of leather shoes

China appears to be importing considerably fewer leather shoes than in 2024.

The China Leather Industry Association has announced that the nation’s retailers imported 100 million pairs of footwear during the first seven months of 2025, for an investment of more than USD 3.1 billion (GBP 2.4 billion). These figures represent year-on-year reductions of 12.4 per cent in volume and 9.1 per cent in value.

This drop in imports of leather shoes was greater than the general reduction in footwear imports, with China importing 21.1 per cent fewer leather shoes than in January to July of the previous year and decreasing spend on leather footwear from other countries by 18.3 per cent. As a result, leather shoes reportedly accounted for 29.7 million pairs of the overall total and cost in excess of USD 1.3 billion (GBP 987.5 million).

Nevertheless, the country’s shoemakers exported over 5.1 billion pairs during the first seven months of 2025. This resulted in reported revenue of USD 25.6 billion (GBP 19.4 billion). Exported leather footwear accounted for 300 million pairs of the total volume and nearly USD 4.4 billion (GBP 3.3 billion) of the total export value.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the November 2025 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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