They went to waste: about a third of Russian shoes may turn out to be a surrogate
About a third of domestic shoes are made up of a surrogate, Izvestia learned. As a rule, these are "gray" imports that pose as domestic production. This scheme allows companies to obtain loans in the country and participate in public procurement. The government has already begun the fight against pseudo-producers of these goods: the operator of the CRPT labeling and Rospotrebnadzor will check such enterprises by the end of the year. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturers are losing their market share. How such shoemakers harm consumers and the economy is in the Izvestia article.
What is pseudo shoe manufacturing?
In Russia, they decided to fight pseudo-shoe manufacturing: as early as May, the labeling operator, the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT), should compile a list of enterprises that call themselves domestic manufacturers, but in fact are not. Next, Rospotrebnadzor will have to be involved in the work, which will come to the addresses of such enterprises for unscheduled control. The relevant instructions were given following the results of the regular meeting of the State Commission for Combating Illicit Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods in the Russian Federation, which took place at the end of March.
It is difficult to say exactly when such enterprises appeared in the Russian Federation, a source in the shoe industry who participated in the preparation of analytics for the State Commission told Izvestia. The problem became noticeable in late 2024 and early 2025, when mandatory labeling of shoes began in the Russian Federation, before that, an experiment had been underway in the industry since 2020.
— Then we clearly saw how the information on the manufacture of shoes from the Honest Sign system and Rosstat data diverged, — said the source.
So, in the third quarter of 2024, 153.3 million pairs produced in the Russian Federation were recorded in the identification system, it was for them that the Central Statistical Office issued stamps, but Rosstat received more modest information from our enterprises — the discrepancy was 39 million pairs. This follows from the analytical note of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the meeting on the eve of the State Commission, it was prepared on the basis of information provided by the business. This may indicate that imported shoes are being passed off as domestic goods in Russia, or these are illegally manufactured products in the country, the document says.
The industry believes that these discrepancies are the volume of production of pseudo-shoe manufacturers. In practice, these are importers of cheap products that are imported into Russia under the guise of blanks. This is beneficial, because there are no duties for such products at the border. Already in the Russian Federation, such a semi—finished product is brought to full readiness - as a rule, soles are glued, and then stamps are obtained on them. After all, the Honest Sign system does not require proof when registering as a domestic company, the Izvestia source added. He stressed that the status of a Russian enterprise allows pseudo-enterprises to apply for loans in the Russian Federation, as well as participate in public procurement.
The total sales volume of shoes in Russia annually is about 550-580 million pairs, domestic enterprises account for up to 120 million pairs, the rest is imported (up to 340 million). In total, about 120 million pairs on the market are estimated by experts to be counterfeit and illegal.
The Ministry of Economic Development of the Ryazan Region also presented its materials to the State Commission: local officials proposed to impose a duty on imported blanks, it follows from the documents. Moreover, such experience already exists in other countries: for example, in the EU it is 3%, in India — 20%, in China — from 6 to 90%, depending on the supplier country, in Uzbekistan - 10%. This approach will create equal conditions for Russian producers and those enterprises that import blanks, the region is confident. According to the local MAYOR, the share of foreign blanks in the total production of leather-topped shoes is constantly increasing: in 2018 it was 7%, in 2023 it was 16% and, according to forecasts, in 2024 this figure will be 20%.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Shoe Union.
What do pseudo-productions in the Russian Federation lead to?
Such manipulations have a serious impact on the market: the average cost of foreign and Russian products differs significantly, according to an analytical note from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. For example, the average price of a pair of Chinese shoes in 2023 was 1.1 thousand rubles, and the Russian price was almost 1.7 thousand rubles, it says. Chinese products are even cheaper than goods produced in Russia at cost.
Russian legal enterprises are losing the market, it already consists of 80% imported shoes, against this background, the production of domestic products is slowing down. If the share of domestic producers accounted for 25% in 2020, now it has decreased to 15-18%. The papers concluded that "the Russian leather and footwear industry is in a difficult situation, with a massive reduction in the production of civilian and children's shoes."
The labeling system and Rosstat data differ by 34% in terms of the volume of shoes that seem to be made in Russia, Elena Sarattseva, deputy head of Roskachestvo, told Izvestia.
— Most likely, the pseudo-producers identify themselves as enterprises operating here. This is usually how "grey" imports or illegal manufacturing of products are legalized. This has a serious impact on competition: the cost of such shoes is lower than the prices of a bona fide business due to the reduction in overhead costs. Therefore, the urgent task now is to exclude the possibility of such legalization," she noted.
The expert stressed that no one evaluates the safety of products that are designed in violation of domestic laws. Although since 2023, Roskachestvo has been recording: there is a relationship between violations in the preparation of quality documents (certificates of conformity) and product safety, the expert noted. Thus, the results of the organization's research in the categories of children's shoes, toys, and school uniforms show that from 65 to 87% of products whose certificates are issued in violation of the requirements are unsafe.
The Central Trade Center told Izvestia that pseudo—Russian production is not a novelty, "thus unscrupulous participants in the turnover are trying to legalize imported products or obtain preferences for their supply in public procurement." The labeling operator also added that he is already monitoring such enterprises, for example, assessing whether they have production facilities and whether there are enough raw materials. We are talking about a new experiment inside the labeling system.
— If the company cannot confirm the availability of actual production, it receives a warning. Further, on the basis of the collected invoice, the Central Bank can come up with proposals for amendments to the current legislation," they said. — Today, 132.5 thousand participants in the shoe turnover are registered in the labeling system, 5.8 thousand of them are manufacturers. The illegal turnover of shoes decreased by 71% due to labeling, and the fiscal effect (additional taxes collected to the treasury as a result of the industry's whitewashing) amounted to 98.6 billion rubles.
Rospotrebnadzor added to Izvestia that the main purpose of the CRPT experiment, in which the service participates, is to try to take real action against violators. For example, restrict the issuance of labeling codes or block those that have already been issued. The service also recalled that in 2024, Rospotrebnadzor checked 117.2 thousand units of shoes, of which 41% had violations of labeling requirements by means of identification.
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