Present%20situation%20in%20the%20Slovak%20Leather%20and%20Shoe%20Industry%20in%20context%20of%20permanent%20increase%20of%20imports%20from%20China%20

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Present situation in the Slovak Leather and Shoe
Industry in context of permanent increase of
imports from China    Presentation of Mr.
Štefan Šulo on Slovak National Event
Trencín, 12.4.2005    Th
is article has been produced with the financial
support of the European Communitys PHARE
programme. The views expressed herein are those
of ZKOP SR and can therefore in no way be taken
to reflect the official opinion of the European
Commission.
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Main characteristics of production, imports and
exports in the Leather and Shoe Industry of
Slovakia
At the beginning I would like to give you very
brief information about the situation in the
Slovak leather and shoe industry during the
former 15 years.   In consequence of
disintegration of east markets and wild
privatisation our production has started to droop
very rapidly since 1990. In 1999 the production
of our leather and shoe industry created only 19
of the level of production in 1989.  
Thanks to existence of cheap and skilled workers
and promotional politics such organisations as
our association, some European footwear and
leather companies have started to invest into our
industry and our production began to grow. At
present time the production of shoes creates
about 35 of level in 1989 and in leather about
19 . The situation is stabilised. Foreign
companies about 80 of whole output. 90 of
this production is exported, mainly to the EU.  
From these reasons is very difficult to
evaluate the impact of China import on Slovak
leather and shoe production, because the original
domestic production practically does not exist.
Despite of existence of some technical obstacles
which we have transplanted into our legislation
(mandatory certification before 1997, quotas on
Chinese shoe import during 1999-2002 etc.) the
China import has been permanently increased from
0 in 1990 to 18 millions pairs in 2004. The
import situation in Slovakia copied the situation
in EU-15 countries.
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Production in Slovak Leather and Shoe Industry
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Results of processing the questionnaires on
competitiveness of the Slovak Leather and Shoe
Industry
5
Size of companies
6
Sales
7
Future of competitiveness
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Competitors
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Consequences
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(No Transcript)
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Impact
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Segments
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The strongest competitive factors of the Chinese
exporters
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(No Transcript)
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Evidence of unfair practices
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Kinds of unfair commercial practises
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Allies of Chinese products
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Weak points of Chinese manufacturers
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FUTURE
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Effective factors to Chinese competition
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Levers for support of EU manufacturers
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Strategies
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Actions
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Actions that ZKOP envisaged  In conclusion I
will introduce some proposal of my association
for the future which have to be done on companies
and EU levels. Company level Improvements in
design and fashionInvestments in image, brand
and communicationImprovement of service
component (delivery, etc)Price reduction through
cost reduction and increased productivityImprovem
ent of customer satisfaction through
customisation
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• National and EU level
•  
• Obligatory marking of the imported goods with the
  label MADE IN from the countries outside the EU
  countries
• Obligatory marking of the shoe parts according to
  the Directive 94/11/ES
• The Market control has to solicit the same
  documents and conditions regardless to the place
  and kind of sale
• It is necessary to solve the problematic of
  antidumping, quotas restrictions and duty
  politics on EU and WTO levels to use the equal
  conditions
• It is necessary to give clear specification of
  dangerous chemicals, which are not possible to
  find in shoes and leather goods
• To fight again unfair competition and illegal
  practice in the international trade