Based on information available for the first 11 months of the year, the 28 EU countries, imported 3 526 million pairs of shoes with a total value of 39.7 billion euros, resulting in a 10.9% increase in the value of total imports of the European Union, despite the decrease of 3.6% in volume over the same period in 2014. If we only consider the shoes entering the European Union coming from outside its borders, then the 28 countries of the EU as a whole imported 2 329 million pairs with a total value of 17.3 billion euros, resulting in a decrease of 4.8% in quantity and 15.9% in value. The main European importers, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, consolidated their foreign footwear purchases, all growing at rates above 4.5% (value of imports). French imports, which in the first eleven months of 2015 reached 460.8 million pairs with a value of 5 727 million euros, increased by 9.3% in value, despite the 2.3% decrease in volume. Worth being highlighted the decrease of French imports from Italy (-5.8% in volume and -5.2% in value) and Spain (-12.3% in volume and -10.0% in value), respectively the first and fifth largest footwear suppliers to the French market. For the growth in value of French imports greatly contributed increases in imports from China (+7.9%), Belgium (+14.3%) and Germany (+23.5%), respectively, second, third and fourth major source markets. Germany, which stabilized imports in volume in 2015 (growth rate of purchases abroad of 0.0%), increased by 9.7% in value, much driven by increases in the value of footwear from China (+13.7%), Vietnam (+34.2%) and Belgium (+26.6%). The UK imports grew at an impressive rate of 21.5% from 4 112 million euros in the first eleven months of 2014 to 4 996 million in the same period of 2015. Growths up from 15% in nine of the top ten footwear providers explain this dynamic markets (except for the imports coming from Italy which grew only at a rate of 3.5%). Growth also occurred in terms of volume imported, an increase of 13.0% in the period, driven by increases in amounts coming from China (+14.8%), Belgium (+14.8%) and Vietnam (+28.3%). Spanish imports, which in the first eleven months of the year totaled 257.5 million pairs with a total value of 2 370 million euros, up by 6.2%, despite the decline in volume of 14.0%. A drop of 17.0% in value and 30.8% in volume in the footwear from Vietnam (the third largest vendor in the Spanish market) is worthy of highlight and contributed to the reduction of the quantities imported by Spain in the period. The behavior of purchases from Portugal (-28.6% in volume and 10.7% in value) and the Netherlands (-28.7% in volume and +0.6% in value) was also reflected in lower volume footwear to enter Spain in the period (299.4 million pairs in the first eleven months of 2014 compared to 257.5 million pairs in the same period in 2015). The growth of imports in value (+6.2% in total) reflects increases in almost all source markets, especially in China (+12.6%), France (+ 14.9%) and Belgium (+10.1%). Italy was the country to show the more modest growth rate for its footwear imports (+ 4.5%), strongly influenced by decreases of imports coming from Romania (-15.7%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (-7.2%), Albania (-9.9%) and the Netherlands (-0.4%).
