China’s footwear exports declined 8.6% YoY to $19.83 billion in the first half of 2026 between January – June 2026 while export volume fell 4.6% to 4.29 billion pairs according to the data provided by APLF.

During the same period key footwear enterprises nationwide recorded sales revenue of more than RMB 200 billion (~$29.94 billion) thats a decline of 6.1% compared with the first half of 2025.

Production of leather footwear also declined. Key enterprises producing leather footwear manufactured 970 million pairs during the first half of 2026 thats a decline of 7.6% YoY

China imported 70 million pairs of footwear in the first half of 2026 a decline of 17.3% compared with the same period last year. The value of footwear imports fell 2.3% to $2.58 billion.

China’s exports of footwear with leather uppers or in simple words leather footwear reached 240 million pairs valued at $3.28 billion in the first half of 2026. Export volume declined 3.3% YoY while export value fell 8.7%

Imports of leather footwear totalled 20 million pairs worth $1.10 billion. Import volume too declined by 14.7% compared with the first half of 2025 while import value fell 2%.

Overall China’s leather industry which includes leather, footwear, leather garments, bags and cases recorded exports worth $40.91 billion in the first half of 2026 a decline of 5.4% YoY. Imports increased 4.9% to $7.9 billion over the same period according to data released by APLF.

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