Shoemakers squeezed in Guangdong

Nearly 1,000 shoe factories in Guangdong province have been shut down in the first three quarters of the year, as shoemakers struggle with increasing pressures in the region's business environment, Xinhua Net reported (in Chinese). A number of factors, such as a shortage of labor, raw material price increases, renminbi appreciation and foreign anti-dumping complaints, have been behind the closures, said Li Peng, secretary general of the Asia Footwear Association. Li also cited the adjustment of value-added tax rebate policies and the shift of preferential policies from lower-end processing trade to high-value-added products as weakening the profitabilty of shoe manufacturers in the province.