Porto, Portugal, Nov. 25, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal exported 53.3 million pairs of shoes worth €1.321.7 billion in the first nine months of the year, up 3.8% in volume and 2.1% in value compared to the same period last year, the industry association announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Portuguese Association of Footwear, Components, Leather Goods and their Substitutes (APICCAPS) said that the sector "consolidated in September the growth cycle observed throughout 2025, strengthening its position in the main international markets" and gaining market share against its main competitors.
Highlighting the strong competitive capacity of the sector in a challenging international context marked by instability in strategic markets such as Germany and France, APICCAPS emphasises the growth in safety footwear (+17% in value), children's footwear (+6%) and footwear made from textile materials (+18.8%).
Leather footwear, the main component of Portuguese exports, "remained stable in value, bucking the global trend of strong pressure on margins and average prices".
In the first nine months of the year, Europe remained the main destination for Portuguese footwear, absorbing around 80% of exports, with sales to the European market growing 5.9% in quantity (to 47 million pairs) and 4.4% in value (to €1.098 billion).
The association highlights the increases recorded in Germany (+11.3%, to €372 million) and Spain (+20.6%, to €139 million), while France, a "historically central" market for the sector, recorded a slight decline of 0.4%, to €263 million.
Outside Europe, the recovery in the United States continued after a start to the year "marked by strong volatility".
Although this market still recorded a decline of 7.9% up to September, it is already far from the more pronounced declines of the first quarter.
In Asian markets, APICCAPS points to growth in South Korea (+18.2%) and Japan (+4.8%), with sales to both these markets approaching €3 million.
Quoted in the press release, the association's president considers that these results "reflect the enormous capacity of Portuguese industry to adapt at a time of great complexity".
Stating that the national industry "was able to adjust quickly to the new dynamics of consumption", Luís Onofre emphasises that "the sector is, as a result of ongoing investments, better prepared to compete globally".
For APICCAPS, the data for the month of September is "particularly relevant as it confirms the reversal of the negative trend recorded in 2024 and consolidates the recovery trajectory that began in early 2025".
This, Onofre emphasises, "is not a coincidence", but "the result of a collective strategy and heavy investment".
With these results, the association leader believes that 2025 will end as "a year of stabilisation and strategic repositioning", marking "a new cycle of international affirmation for the Portuguese footwear industry", in a period that "is proving very difficult for the footwear sector internationally".
In this regard, the association emphasises the fact that Portuguese performance continues to outperform that of its competitors, which has allowed it to gain market share.
According to Eurostat data, up to August, the Italian industry fell by 1.3% and Spain by 3.3%, while Turkey recorded a cumulative drop in exports of around 13%.
As for the largest international player in the sector, China, which has a 56% share of world production, fell by 9.1% in the period from January to September.
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