June 24, 2007
Mexico's Shoe Industry Fights for Survival
Leon (Mexico)
For years well over 1,200 Mexican companies have made leather shoes,
handbags and clothes, without having to fear any foreign
competition. However, the free trade agreements Mexico signed with
various countries since the 1990s have opened the domestic market.
And at the end of 2007, the last tariffs shielding the Mexican
shoemaker from the "yellow danger" posed by China are to be
eliminated.
A few days ago, Mexican producers gathered at a fair in the
traditional leather-city of Leon and demanded that the country keep
its China-tariff of up to 1,000 percent for an extra five years.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has promised his support. But is
it too late?
Every day at midday, the production hall of the shoemaker Alfredo
Shoes in Leon, some 100 metres long, becomes the nave of a church.
The foreman leads the prayer, microphone in hand. On the front wall,
behind which the management sits, the Virgin Mary gently oversees
the daily production of 6,000 pairs of shoes, boots and sandals.
For three minutes, machines and lines stand still, while the 350
workers request the blessing of heaven to keep moving the lines,
which they toil at daily from dawn till dusk.
And the Mexican leather and shoe industry could well need the favour
of god. Although high tariffs still protect it from the Chinese
onslaught, many firms have already had to close shop.
Twenty years ago, around 1,200 companies were active in Leon and now
only around 600 remain, according to Alfredo Padilla, the owner of
Alfredo Shoes. Many people fear for their jobs.
Leon, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, is the centre of the
Mexican leather industry.
"Now most are going downhill," said Peter Kirschbaum, director of
the largest Mexican shoe company Emyco.
Walter Hagen, who has supplied Leon tanneries with BASF products
since 1977, is pessimistic too. "Death has started already," he says
of the sector.
High entry tariffs of up to 1,000 percent apply until late 2007 but
only for shoes from China. However, Chinese merchandise is already
entering the country illegally, through Mexico's porous borders,
directly or via Malaysia and Vietnam. Even Emyco annually imports 1
million pairs of shoes from Vietnam for the Mexican market.
"Only the big will survive the competition," Kirschbaum said.
The businessman, of German origin, has already experienced the
collapse of the shoe industry in the US. However, he thinks his
factory will be among those who can withstand the attack.
Emyco, with 4,500 employees, produces some six million pairs of
shoes, boots and sandals every year with varying brands, for the
Mexican and US markets. Every three months, 100 new models are made.
"We hope that that will help us in the future," he said.
Alfredo Padill, in turn, wants to face the competition with speed,
reliability and especially Italian machinery and design. His top
designer is Italian and brings all kinds of ideas from Europe.
"We Mexicans like the challenge, we are not scared and we absolutely
do not want the government to protect us," he stressed. "We just
want to face the same conditions as our competitors."
The Mexican cowboy boot definitely looks like a survivor. The
complex production of the boot has kept Far Eastern producers at
bay. They are made by companies with names like Botas Je-Ver, Botas
Jaca, Pistolero, Rancho-Boots or Sergio Banano, with 50 to 200
employees each.
These boots continue to be made largely by hand, in various colours
and shapes and from exotic hides - crocodile, cayman, armadillo,
iguana, lizard, manta ray ostrich, snake and goat.
This type of shoe suits the taste of a particular, small clientele -
drug traffickers. Lately they are also being exported to China, and
to Europe.
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
