For nearly five years.

It is understood that in the first month of the EU's anti-dumping duty on China, although the export of leather shoes in Wenzhou did not show a blowout, it still increased in terms of volume.

According to statistics, in April, Wenzhou exported 5 million 88 thousand pairs of leather shoes and 60 million 800 thousand US dollars, of which 1 million 464 thousand and 16 million 390 thousand U.S. dollars were exported to the EU. The number and amount of leather shoes increased by 5% and 24.1% respectively.

The EU has formally imposed anti-dumping duties on leather shoes imported from China since October 2006 to protect the interests of some southern European footwear enterprises, with a tax rate of 16.5%.

In December 2009, the EU decided to reconsider the anti-dumping measures against Chinese leather shoes for another 15 months, expiring in March 2011.

According to the insiders, although the EU anti-dumping case on China's leather shoes is over, the number of leather shoes exported to Europe in Wenzhou is still limited.

As far as EU buyers are concerned, the end of the anti-dumping duty does not reduce their purchasing cost, for example, the average unit price increased by 17.89% in April compared with the same period last year, while the anti-dumping duty was 16.5%, which theoretically restricted the desire to expand procurement.

The increase in labor costs, exchange rate changes and other factors led to a gradual decline in the profit margins of Wenzhou's export footwear enterprises, and the desire to further develop the European market also declined.

It is learnt that, while canceling anti-dumping duties on leather shoes, the EU has also introduced a number of monitoring measures, including weekly monitoring to ensure that there is no unfair behavior, and that Chinese shoe companies enjoy various kinds of government subsidies.