Figures show China’s shrinking share of athletic shoe production
16/08/2018
Major Taiwanese outsource athletic footwear manufacturers Feng Tay and Pou Chen have been steadily reducing the percentage of product that they make in China, the business newspaper said.
Feng Tay told the Nikkei Asian Review that it had stopped adding production capacity in China a decade ago and now, according to investor relations director, Joe Lin, only makes 10% of the shoes it produces for, mostly, adidas and Nike in China.
It now has factories are in south-east Asia and in India is another increasingly important production base for Feng Tay; it now has two factories in India. Mr Lin said the company intends to continue to expand production in India and improve efficiency at its facilities in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Vietnam, India and Indonesia all had higher shares of Feng Tay’s total production in 2017, making 52%, 24% and 13% of its total of 124 million pairs respectively, than China with 11%. As mentioned, Mr Lin puts China’s share of Feng Tay production in 2018 at 10%.
Rival outsource shoe producer Pou Chen made almost 325 million pairs last year for brands including Nike, adidas, Reebok, Asics, Under Armour, New Balance and Puma. In 2014, Pou Chen was making 29% of its shoes in China. In 2015, the figure was 25%, while in 2016 it was 20%. Last year, it made 17% of its footwear in China.
In the first six months of 2018, Pou Chen produced 159 million pairs of shoes and the percentage that its factories in China contributed was 15%, compared to 46% from its facilities in Vietnam.
Both companies have said they will continue to make shoes in China because the domestic market there is so big.
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