It was a long journey in the desert, but in the end, shoes, the main export sector of the province, managed to consolidate its recovery in foreign markets with new products. Sales increased by 3.5% in the first half people he dealt with before the coronavirus pandemic. The other side of the coin is represented by the marble that keeps falling.The only industry in Alicante that continues to offer scales lower than in 2019. Issues such as cost increases or strong competition from other materials mean it remains immersed in the context of a crisis.
With the outbreak of the health crisis, the curfew imposed at the international level caused a general halt in exports, except for essential products such as food. However, the end of the bull run has also brought about a rapid resurgence of foreign sales reaching almost all sectors with some exceptions.
This is the case of the shoe, whose recovery process is slower due to the cancellation of all kinds of social events. However, it has finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and after some specific data already pointing to this trend, it has even surpassed pre-pandemic records. The figures published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism for the first half of the year show this. Shoe companies in the province managed to sell 666.8 million euros abroadCompared to 643.2 in the first six months of 2019.
Marián Cano, president of the Valencian Footwear Entrepreneurs Association (Avecal), points out that the return to pre-pandemic figures is “very good news after the challenges we have had to overcome during this time”. However, it doesn’t instantly throw the bells away from it. “The reintroduction of the consumption alert is stimulating sales in our industry, but can produce problems with supply, energy costs and raw materials and inflation. a slowdown in the coming monthsYeah.”
On the other hand, there is another export sector in the province such as marble, which could not recover its export figures before the pandemic. Especially in the first half of the current year, sales abroad reached 54.7 million euros, still below the 62.1 reached in 2019, when the situation was also not very lively. “We have everything against us. The price of energy is skyrocketing and the same is true for other essential products for us, such as wood, resins, plastics or diesel. Top Recently we had a transport strike that punished us”, said the president of the Mármol de Alicante association. It should be added to strong competition from other materialsThe special color of Alicante marbles, which is dominated by s or cream, lags behind white and black in consumer preference, although it is in demand again.
The rest of the sectors, starting with food and continuing with plastic, metal or toys, are better than before the pandemic.