PU sole material, with its unique performance advantages such as comfort, lightness, anti-slip, good elasticity, high strength, excellent wear resistance and oil resistance, has played a pivotal role in the footwear industry. Compared with other common sole materials such as PVC, RB, TPR, EVA, PU material obviously has more comprehensive characteristics and wider applicability. This also explains why PU sole stock solution is widely used in the midsole of sports shoes, as well as the outsole of leather shoes and casual shoes.
In China, as the world's largest country in terms of footwear production, consumption, and export, PU sole materials are widely used. However, it is worth noting that most of the domestic footwear products using PU sole stock solution are mainly in the low-end market, with labor protection shoes and leather shoes being the most common uses of this material. This phenomenon may be related to various factors such as consumption habits, product positioning, and production costs in the domestic market.
In recent years, although China still maintains its position as a major global shoe producer, its footwear exports have shown a downward trend. This change is partly due to the gradual transfer of Chinese shoe production to Asian countries with lower labor costs, such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Brazil. These countries not only have lower labor costs, but also have easier access to important markets such as the United States. According to statistics, China's footwear production reached 13.047 billion pairs in 2022, but due to the impact of the international economic environment and industrial transfer, the export volume has declined.
In 2023, this trend has not been significantly improved. According to the statistics of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the operating income of enterprises above designated size in the leather, fur, feather and its products and footwear industry nationwide was 798.61 billion yuan, which actually decreased by 5.8% year on year. This data reflects the weak trend of the footwear market from a side. At the same time, according to the forecasts of China Leather Association and China Plastics Association, the production of shoes and PU resin for leather in China in 2023 has declined compared with the previous year, with the production of PU resin for leather declining by about 5% year on year.
In terms of the production of shoe sole stock solution, the total capacity of China's shoe sole stock solution in 2023 remained at 1.057 million tons per year, the same as the previous year. However, the actual output was 549,000 tons, down 2.9% year-on-year. The average operating rate of the industry throughout the year was only 52%, indicating weak market demand. The main reason for this decline in production is the downturn in overseas consumer markets and the impact of industrial transfer, which led to a significant decline in exports. At the same time, the performance of the downstream end of the domestic market was also relatively sluggish, causing serious inventory backlog for manufacturers.
In this environment, the PU sole material industry is also facing significant challenges. However, considering its unique physical properties and wide range of applications, companies and research institutions in the industry may explore more innovative applications and market opportunities to cope with the current difficulties. For example, developing higher-end and functional PU sole products, or expanding into other related fields such as elastic material applications in the automotive and furniture industries. This can not only alleviate the pressure on the footwear market, but also potentially bring new growth points to the PU sole material industry.
