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India accorded partner country status at Dusseldorf shoe fair

India has been accorded a partner country status at the forthcoming GDS, billed the world's leading international shoe fair to be held in September 1999 in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The Council for Leather Exports and the Indo-German Export Promotion Council has chalked out a strategy to present an impressive image of India at fair, according to an IGEP release.

As part of the strategy, a German shoe designer along with his team from Footwear Design and Development Institute, NOIDA, have started working with India companies to help them prepare a fashionable collection to present to European buyers at the GDS shoe fair, said CLE chairman M Hashim.

"This will be a mega event for all of us and shoe exporters in India will have to be well prepared," he said.

Rafeeque Ahmed, chairman of the CLE fair committee, said that GDS has always traditionally attracted a large number of Indian participants. At the last GDS shoe fair, 26 Indian companies had participated and bagged confirmed orders worth Rs 250 million and serious inquiries worth nearly Rs 520 million.

IGEP Director D Kebschull said the 'partner country' status will help garner additional market share in the 15-member European Union shoe market, which has remained almost static over the last two years. By giving India a partner country status, European footwear importers have showed a renewed interest in Indian leather products.

Kebschull said this was a great opportunity for Indian companies to project a very positive image. He said Indian leather and shoe exporters needed to raise their competitive edge a few notches higher and improve value addition for their products.

The German market alone calls for 400 million pairs of shoes annually and India sends in around 10 million pairs, all of them for men.

The huge demand for shoes for children and ladies is now being met through imports from China, Vietnam and few other countries, and this is where Indian exporters are missing out, Kebschull said, adding that German footwear experts could help Indian companies overcome this handicap.

Germany, the single largest common market, imports a monthly average of 66.5 million pairs from outside the EU. While India's share is about two million pairs per month, China leads the exporting league with a monthly average supply of 23 million pairs followed by 12 million pairs from Vietnam.

Germany has continued to be the single largest market for leather and leather products from India. With a share of 20 per cent of India's overall leather sector exports, it has always been a very important market for Indian companies, particularly for footwear.

While the per capita consumption of shoes in Germany was 3.79 in 1998, all of the EU accounted for 4.18, encouraging Indian exporters to focus on the EU market.

Besides, the trade scenario in Europe, after the introduction of a single currency - the euro -- by 2001 will pose an imposing challenge for Indian exporters. The problem was that most footwear production occurred in the small-scale sector. Their product standards, technology and marketing skills require sustained upgradation, collaborative agreements and bench marking for both domestic and export product, he said.

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