Austria’s news media reported that footwear production in Austria dropped 20% to 1.8 million pairs in 2009. As production costs hiking in Austria the shoemaking companies begin to transfer their production to overseas for facing the severe competition, most of them mainly shift to Eastern Europe.
According to report from Austrian industrial organization for footwear and leather goods, in Austria the average consumption for footwear is five to seven pairs of shoe each year, sales for native made shoes in Austria reduced because of impacts by imported shoes from China and Vietnam, 70% of footwear made in Austria are sold to overseas markets such as in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia. Currently there are 22 shoemaking companies still remained in Austria.
