At a recent meeting, the Chamber of Commerce of China’s Quanzhou Shoe Industry stated that it expects shoe production in the province to reach $100 billion by the end of 2010.

Quanzhou is one of the largest shoe production areas in China and many well-known sports shoe brands are manufactured there.

Secretary-general of the Quanzhou Shoe Industry’s Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Zheng Tian, said that although Quanzhou has a complete supply chain for shoe materials which attracts shoe manufacturers from overseas, especially Taiwan, the facilities are still lagging behind in terms of developing new materials and designs and should make improvement in this field in the future.

Representatives from a Taiwanese shoe-making consortium also attended the meeting. The director, Mr. Lin Zhao Jie, said that Taiwanese companies would continue to cooperate with Quanzhou Shoe Industry Chamber and plans to organise a series of activities. He also called on the shoe companies in Quanzhou to work closely with Taiwanese enterprises to form an industry federation so as to compete in the international market.

Mr. Lin Zhao Jie said that Quanzhou is an attractive area for Taiwanese footwear producers as the unit export price of sports shoe made in Taiwan was above $13 whilst for those made in Quanzhou the average export price was only around $4.