• 
• 

Published on November 5, 2007

Next year is expected to be brighter, with exports rising 5-10 per cent to Bt37 billion-Bt40 billion, thanks to the Japan-Thailand Economic Partner-ship Agreement, which kicked in this month. The footwear industry also hopes to see more baht stability as well as marketing strategies to boost exports to new destinations.

Thamrong Tritiprasert, chairman of the Footwear Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries, said last week that exports would show slower-than-expected growth because of many risk factors.

According to the Depart-ment of Export Promotion, footwear and related exports dropped 5.15 per cent to Bt25.58 billion in the first nine months of the year. The full-year target has been set at Bt39.5 billion, but now only Bt36.3 billion is expected to be achieved.

The appreciation of the baht by more than 15 per cent against the US dollar, the rise in competition - particularly from China - and the hikes in oil prices pushing up production costs have made this year one to forget.

Two large plants - Union Footwear and Rangsit Foot-wear - together with some small factories, have been tripped up by the surging baht, he said.

Prathana Siriwat, manager of the Thai Footwear Associa-tion, said more than 2,000 unregistered small footwear-makers, operating as original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), have closed up shop this year because many international brands shifted orders to China and Vietnam.

Also, some large OEM factories employing more than 2,000 workers shut down this year. One large sports-shoe maker in Chon Buri has recently ceased operations.

Out of about 5,000 shoemakers in the country, 3,000 are small registered firms, 1,500 are medium-sized and the remainder are large.

Local footwear-makers have suffered slow business from Europe, a major export market, for this coming cold season, because they cannot make winter shoes. The association and the Department of Export Promotion are planning to undertake more promotion in new markets such as Asia and the Middle East.

Shoe exporters also plan to focus more on own-brand manufacturing rather than producing made-to-order. The association hopes to develop product patterns to serve market niches by hiring European designers to train their Thai counterparts, Prathana said.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

 The Nation