Footwear industry insiders from China and some European countries are calling for a solution to China's trade disputes with the European Union (EU).
"We hope the EU's anti-dumping suit against China can be solved through negotiations instead of imposing trade barriers," said Massimo Donda, president of the Italian association for footwear retailers.
Just like the textile frictions that were settled through consultations between Beijing and Brussels, he said he believes the two sides should find solutions to ongoing disputes through talks rather than acrimonious litigation or trade restrictions.
He made his remarks on Sunday at the Global Forum of Footwear in Beijing. The EU anti-dumping charges were discussed repeatedly during the two-day forum.
The EU has been embroiled in disputes over footwear imports with a number of countries and regions, including South Korea and Taiwan, for several years.
Its moves are seen as attempts to prevent its domestic shoe manufacturing industry from suffering shrinking sales.
Donda said he attributes the decline of the footwear industry in the EU first to the high labour costs in the economic bloc.
"As the labour costs are increasing in some East European countries, enterprises will certainly transfer their manufacturing centres to places that are more favourable to their enterprises, with lower costs, such as China and other Asian countries," he said.
It is not prudent for the European Commission to start a probe into Chinese safety shoes based on figures from a mere four months, said an Italian shoe maker Luigino Rossi.
