Despite significant declines from most major suppliers, U.S. imports of nonrubber footwear rose by 1 percent in 1998, due entirely to a 6 percent gain in imports from China, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in its Nonrubber Footwear Statistical Report.

U.S. imports of nonrubber footwear imports increased by 1 percent to 1.2 billion pairs in 1998 after growing 9 percent in 1997, according to the report. The value of imports, however, declined by 1 percent to $11.4 billion as the average unit price of imports dropped by 2 percent to $9.49 a pair. The slow down in the import growth reflected a stagnant U.S. market for nonrubber footwear, which rose by only 1 percent in 1998, following a 8 percent gain in 1997. Imports' share of domestic consumption showed no change at 92 percent by volume and 83 percent by value in 1998.

The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, issued the report as the fourth in a series of five annual reports on the nonrubber footwear industry requested by the Senate Committee on Finance. Following are other highlights of the report:

• China was the only major U.S. supplier of nonrubber footwear that experienced growth in 1998. Imports from China increased by 50 million pairs or 6 percent in 1998, to 881 million pairs valued at $6.6 billion, whereas imports from all other countries combined declined by 36 million pairs or 10 percent, to 322 million pairs. China expanded its share of the U.S. nonrubber footwear market by 3 percentage points to 67 percent in 1998.

• The ongoing decline in imports from Brazil, the largest volume supplier after China, continued as imports of nonrubber footwear from that country in 1998 dropped by 9 percent to 81.4 million pairs valued at $1 billion. Imports from Indonesia, the third- leading volume supplier, declined by 13 percent to 59.2 million pairs valued at $575 million in 1998.

• Imports from the European Union (EU) dropped by 6 percent, to 85.7 million pairs valued at $2 billion in 1998. Italy and Spain, which together accounted for 81 percent of U.S. nonrubber footwear imports from the EU in 1998, declined by 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

• The combined nonrubber footwear imports from Korea and Taiwan, the dominant U.S. suppliers during the 1980s, declined by 18 percent to 23 million pairs valued at $246 million in 1998. While imports from Taiwan fell by 29 percent to 13.7 million pairs, those from Korea increased by 6 percent to 9.3 million pairs, the first such increase from Korea in the 1990s. In 1998, these two countries together supplied only 2 percent of U.S. imports, compared with 60 percent of U.S. imports a decade earlier and 5 percent of U.S. imports in 1994.

• U.S. nonrubber imports from Mexico declined by 22 percent to 14 million pairs valued at $201 million in 1998, following a 58 percent increase in 1996 and a 18 percent increase in 1997. U.S. imports from the Caribbean countries declined for the second successive year in 1998, dropping by 5 percent to 3.2 million pairs ($49 million). The Dominican Republic, which accounted for 72 percent of U.S. nonrubber footwear imports from the Caribbean in 1998, dropped by 1 percent.

• U.S. production of nonrubber footwear in 1998 fell by 1 percent from the 1997 level to 122 million pairs. The value of U.S. producers' shipments declined by 2 percent during the period to $2.7 billion. The average employment in the U.S. nonrubber footwear industry also declined, dropping by 5,400 people or 13 percent in 1998, to 35,100.