EU stamps 20% duty on shoe imports

The price of shoes is likely to rise following the EU's decision to impose anti-dumping duties of almost 20 per cent on imports from China and Vietnam.

UK retailers will be forced to move their manufacturing operations out of the two countries and deeper into Asia, because the duties will make it impossible to give 'value to their customers', according to the British Retail Consortium.

BRC Brussels director Alisdair Gray said: 'Larger retailers with economies of scale will simply take their productions out of China into Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

'The price of shoes will rise, because moving productions is expensive and, in the long-term, we will see less choice for consumers.'

The move to impose anti-dumping duties emerged after a nine-month investigation by EU trade officials.

According to the EU, Asian countries import 215 million pairs of shoes to Europe each year and are selling them at a lower price than the cost of the materials, putting the jobs of hundreds of European manufacturers at risk.

The issue could plunge EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson into a lengthy dispute similar to last year's row over Chinese textile import quotas.

Last month, Chinese vice-minister of commerce Gao Hucheng warned that the country might seek arbitration before the World Trade Organisation if the EU went ahead with the sanctions.