Depth report

　　

China and ASEAN are highly complementary in trade and economic cooperation. China and ASEAN have been each other's largest trading partners for four consecutive years, and it is expected that the two sides will continue to be each other's largest trading partners this year, which brings many new business opportunities to the leather and footwear industries and enterprises.

Xu Ningning, Chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee and China's chief ASEAN business expert, Chinese enterprises in the leather and shoe industries can take advantage of multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements such as RCEP, China-Asean Free Trade Agreement, China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement, Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement, Vietnam-UK Free Trade Agreement, as well as the GSP provided by the United States and the European Union to relevant ASEAN countries to develop the international market.

From January to February 2024, the total export volume of China's leather industry products was 16.12 billion US dollars, an increase of 17.2% year on year, accounting for 3.1% of the total export volume of the country; Imports of leather industry products totaled 2.93 billion US dollars, up 2.7% year-on-year, accounting for 0.7% of the country's total imports. From January to February, the national import and export trade surplus of leather industry products was 13.19 billion US dollars, an increase of 21.0%, accounting for 10.5% of the total national import and export trade surplus.

Xu Ningning said that this year is the third year of the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and regional opening-up has brought many new business opportunities. Recently, I was invited to visit a number of ASEAN countries, and deeply felt the positive desire of the government departments and business communities of ASEAN countries to jointly seize the business opportunities of RCEP with China. Leather and footwear enterprises should make full use of regional open institutional arrangements to implement trade and investment cooperation.

RCEP: Good news for enterprises in the leather and shoe industries

RCEP has three major opportunities for Chinese leather and shoe industry enterprises in terms of global industrial development, import and export trade, and cross-border cooperation and investment. Enterprises should actively understand the specific terms of RCEP, actively use the preferential tariff measures of RCEP, improve their product quality and brand competitiveness, and effectively resolve competition risks.

RCEP will help East Asia better form the world's most competitive manufacturing and consumption center for leather and shoe industries. At present, enterprises in some Southeast Asian countries import raw materials and parts processing from China. RCEP can make it easier to trade semi-finished parts and components on the production network throughout the region, and it also means that China's raw materials and semi-finished products can be used more.

RCEP tariff concessions and supporting trade facilitation measures will help China's leather and shoe industry maintain its competitiveness in the international market, deepen international production capacity cooperation, expand investment in the RCEP region, and better build a mutually beneficial leather and shoe industry chain and supply chain cooperation system.

Leather and footwear industry in ASEAN countries

The main export markets for Thai leather are the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

Indonesia is the world's fourth largest footwear producer after China, India and Vietnam. Indonesia is confident of overtaking Vietnam to become Southeast Asia's largest footwear producer, the country's chief investment minister has said.

Vietnam in 2023 leather footwear exports of nearly 24 billion US dollars, sold to 150 markets such as the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and China, of which the United States accounted for 35%, the European Union accounted for 26%, China accounted for 9%, and exports continue to increase. In 2024, China will remain a potential market for Vietnam's leather footwear industry.

The chairman of the Cambodian Footwear Association CFA has analyzed that the export of footwear and related products in 2024 will exceed that in 2023. The United States, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries and regions are the main export markets for Cambodian footwear products.

The China-Asean Footwear Industry Cooperation Council is playing a role

In 2013, the China-Asean Footwear Industry Cooperation Committee (now renamed China-Asean Footwear Industry Cooperation Council) was established, with members including leaders of leather and footwear industry associations from China and ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The council aims to enhance the docking of the footwear industry of the two sides, and enhance mutual understanding and trade and investment cooperation between key enterprises of the two sides.

The main functions of China-Asean Footwear Industry Cooperation Council are:

1. Promote exchanges between China and ASEAN in the footwear industry, and create opportunities for cooperation between the business community through inspection exhibitions, information exchange, capacity training and other activities;

2. Organize the meeting on the docking of footwear industry between China and ASEAN to develop complementarity and business opportunities;

3. Introduce domestic industry development plans and policies to each other, negotiate major issues in the development of the industry in the free trade zone, and put forward opinions and suggestions to relevant government departments and associations;

4, promote the successful experience of cooperation between China and ASEAN footwear industry enterprises, enhance enterprise value, establish brand image;

5. Strengthen the communication and collaboration between the footwear industry and other related industries to promote greater development of the regional footwear industry.

The China-Asean Footwear Industry Cooperation Council under the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee is helping enterprises to cooperate and develop.