Sector sells 20 million pairs of shoes for €453 million in first quarter, but US market dips
Portuguese footwear exports rose 5.4% in value and 4.9% in volume in the first quarter of this year – with 20 million pairs sold for €453 million, the sector association APICCAPS has announced today.
Quoted in a statement, president of the Portuguese Association of Footwear,Components, Leather Goods and Substitutes Luís Onofre considers this to be” an average promising start to the year, in a particularly difficult international context” – expressing “greater concern” however about the situation in the United States, where sales fell by 12.7%.
“Although we already export more than 90% of our production to 170 countries, we consider the US market to be strategic – and the Portuguese footwear industry’s big bet for the next decade,” he explains.
Highlighting the “moment of great uncertainty” due to President Donald Trump’s masterplan for tariffs, Onofre stresses the sector “will not abandon the market”, however worrying the picture.
The United States remains “the world’s largest footwear market”, importing almost two billion pairs annually, worth close to €24.9 billion. It is also Portugal’s sixth largest destination for footwear exports, worth around €100 million last year.
But for the first quarter of 2025, Europe was once again the reference market for Portuguese footwear – absorbing a total of 18 million pairs (up 6.6% year-on-year) worth €382 million (up 8.3%).
APICCAPS highlights the “good performance” recorded in Germany (up 18.8% to €114 million), France (up 1.3% to €96 million) and Spain (up 31% to €46 million), but a decline in the Netherlands, where sales fell 5.6% to €49 million.
Portuguese footwear is also welcomed in the United Kingdom – up 9% to €27 million during the first quarter this year.
All in all, the Portuguese footwear industry exports 90% of its production to 170 markets on five continents. Sales to the US (and Canada) may be down but expectation is that 2025 will be “a year of consolidation for Portuguese footwear abroad”, says Onofre – in spite of the “many variables affecting global trade”.
Source: LUSA
