The United States will not practice trade protectionism for its shoe industry and shoes made in China are welcome on the U.S. market, said the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA) president on Friday.

Peter Mangione, president of the FDRA, made the remarks when he attended an international exhibition for shoes and shoe machines which opened on Friday in the city of Dongguan, southern Guangdong Province, a major shoe production base in China.

FDRA is the largest shoes industry organization in the United States, with big-name members like Nike and Walmart, and the annual sales volume of its members accounts for more than 80 percent of the U.S. market.

Two billion pairs of shoes were sold in the U.S. last year with a sales volume of US$50 billion, of which 85 percent were from China, said Mangione.

The States relies heavily on shoes imports, said Peter Mangione, adding that one out of 100 pairs of shoes on sale in the country is made at home and the rest is imported from other countries.

The largest difference from the European market, however, is that the United States doesn't put limits on shoe imports, he said.

The European Commission (EC) announced in late March that it would place anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from China and Vietnam, despite the fact that only three countries voted in favor of the tariffs, 10 voted against and 11 abstained.

The duties on Chinese shoes started at about 4 percent from April 7 and rose to 19.4 percent in the following six months.

China's shoe exports to the European Union will maintain a significant rise this year despite the anti-dumping duties as the leather shoes business accounts for a relatively small percentage of the shoe exports from China to Europe, said Mangione.

The FDRA's prediction was supported by the presence of European shoes retailers seeking business opportunities at Dongguan's exhibition.

More than 20,000 people have registered to attend the three-day event and the exhibition hall has been expanded by 13 percent in area over the last year, according to the exhibition organizers.

Peter Mangione said the competitiveness of Chinese shoes lies in the rich and cheap labor force and strong production capacity of China.

An FDRA investigation shows the labor force cost 50 U.S. cents per hour in China while it is 20 times more in Italy, which leads to the average price of a pair of Italian shoes being 40 U.S. dollars while that of Chinese shoes is just 6.5 U.S. dollars, said Mangione.

China has several hundreds of shoes factories whose daily production capacity is more than 20,000 pairs and those that can produce 10,000 pairs numbers more than 1,000, according to the FDRA investigation.

In addition, Chinese shoes makers took the lead in producing all categories of shoes, said Mangione.

Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia mainly produce sports shoes, Italy and Brazil leather shoes, while China produces all and that is why the shoe retailer from different countries are in favor of China, he said.

No one would like to give up Chinese shoes due to their good quality and cheap price, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2006)