World leaders in the production of fabrics. The importance of light industry in the world economy. Video: Russian textile industry

The concept of the textile industry

Definition 1

The textile industry is a large and important branch of the light industry. In many world states in the 20th century, the textile industry remained the leading industry, but experienced a structural crisis associated with a decrease in the share of gross output during the Second World War, when more enterprises were destroyed.

Today, in our country, the production of fabric is carried out in almost all areas, while the leading branches of the textile industry include:

• woolen,
• silk,
• linen
• cotton.

The wool industry is characterized by the production of products through the production of yarn from wool fibers.

The silk industry is concentrated on the production of fabrics from silk, in which chemical fiber is added or without the addition of fiber. The linen branch of the textile industry is concentrated on the production of silk fabrics or chemical fibers.

The cotton industry is associated with the production of cotton fabrics or semi-cotton fabrics, in the production of which yarn from cotton fibers is mainly used or chemical fiber is added.

Today, cotton products are in high demand. Every year, manufacturers of all countries try to expand the range and improve the quality of their products, through automation and mechanization of production, the introduction of new technologies. First of all in recent times processing of pure cotton and chemical fibers is carried out in order to give the fabric the best and valuable consumer qualities.

Textiles include products that are made from soft and flexible fibers and threads. Such threads are usually made on a loom from yarn. Textiles also include matter that is not a fabric. It can be felt, knitwear or modern non-woven materials.

Development of the textile industry

The textile industry until the beginning of the 18th century was quite labor-intensive and developed through artisanal and improvised methods in workshops and at home.

For a long period in the production of natural fabrics and products, the densely populated regions of Persia, Egypt and China were the leaders. In these states, textiles have long been the most important commodity exported to Europe and other countries.

In 1730, a twisting machine and an aircraft shuttle for a handloom were invented, and later spinning machines were developed. This stimulated the onset of the English Industrial Revolution.

Later, important centers of the textile industry moved to Europe, as they began to operate with technological and imported equipment. At the end of the 19th century, artificial and synthetic fibers became very popular, which primarily include viscose, lycra and nylon.

In the Soviet Union and other countries of a socialist nature, the textile industry has not been widely developed in comparison with heavy industry. However, in Russia there is a major center of the textile industry in Ivanovo.

To date, many of the old centers of the textile industry have experienced difficulty in competing with cheaper producers, such as the countries of the Asia-Latin America region.

Modern textile industry

In the era of the scientific and technological revolution, the textile industry has significantly changed its structure. Today, regardless of the raw materials used in production, there are paper, wool, silk industries, as well as the production of non-woven materials or artificial fibers.

For a long time, the main industry was paper, but at present, the share of chemical fibers in the world production of fabrics has significantly outweighed the share of cotton and wool, while the share of cotton has been reduced. This is due to the creation of mixed fabrics from natural and chemical fibers, as well as knitted fabrics.

Remark 1

In the textile industry of developed countries, the share of chemical fibers has increased to a greater extent, but in developing countries, the main types of textile raw materials still include cotton, wool and natural silk.

In general, the textile industry is more developed in the group of developing countries. To date, the world textile industry includes five main regions: East Asia, South Asia CIS, USA, Europe.

The main region of the textile industry is represented by Asian countries, which produce about 75% of the total number of fabrics and are characterized by more than 50% of the production of cotton and woolen fabrics.

The main producer of cotton fabrics is China, followed by India. Cotton is also produced in the USA, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Italy and Germany.

Australia, China, New Zealand are the leaders in the production of woolen fabrics. If we consider the production of the most expensive silk fabrics, then the absolute leadership is occupied by the United States. There is also a big role for Asian countries, especially India, China and Japan.

Recently, the production of linen fabrics has been decreasing. A large number of such fabrics is typical for Russia and Western Europe. Despite the fact that the developed world states, especially the USA, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan, are reducing the share of cotton and wool products in their production, they remain major manufacturers of fabrics made from chemical fibers. However, in these types of textile industry, the role of developed countries is declining every year, since the textile industry is rapidly developing and improving in developing countries such as China and India, Korea and Taiwan.

Our country, which used to be the largest manufacturer of all kinds of natural fabrics, is currently experiencing a decline in the textile industry.

The structure of the industry is quite complex. It includes raw materials production (obtaining cotton from raw cotton, processing of animal skins), intermediate production (spinning, textile, dyeing, leather, fur), final production (sewing, knitting, carpet, haberdashery, shoe, etc.).

In the USA, the production of most mass, as a rule, cheap light industry goods for 1950-2000. decreased several times. Therefore, the share of North America in the world has decreased: for footwear - from 48 to 10%, for cotton fabrics - from 30 to 6%, for woolen - from 26 to 6%. In Russia, as a result of the reforms of the 90s. light industry was destroyed. Modern Russia has not even entered the top ten producers of woolen fabrics, shoes, and has sharply reduced the production of linen and cotton fabrics.

Light industry includes about 30 major industries. The geographical problems of the development of light industry are associated with some of its features. First, its products directly affect the standard of living of people. Secondly, it is a labour-intensive industry in which women are predominantly employed. Thirdly, the size of enterprises, as a rule, is small.

Light industry is characterized by a less pronounced territorial specialization compared to other industries, since almost every region has one or another of its enterprises.

The factors for the location of light industry enterprises are diverse, but the main ones can be distinguished:

• raw materials, which mainly affects the location of enterprises for the primary processing of raw materials: for example, flax processing factories are located in the areas of flax production, wool-washing enterprises - in sheep breeding areas, enterprises for the primary processing of leather - near large meat processing plants;
• consumer;
• labor resources, providing for their significant number and qualifications, since all branches of light industry use predominantly female labor.

The light industry of the capitalist world can be divided into two categories. The first is mass production of mass consumption, relatively cheap in cost, requiring a labor force of medium and low qualifications. However, these industries are characterized by a rapid change in assortment, sometimes even with a change in technology, since their products are in the category of fashion products that are often changed.

Under these conditions, complete mechanization and gains due to the scale of production are impossible, since goods of even the same name are produced in small batches, differing from each other in individual details. "Non-standard" is the main slogan of this production due to the special nature of consumer demand, which requires a variety of colors and models even of the same product.

Therefore, the decisive role begins to play the cheapness of labor, and not the level of technology. It is this circumstance that explains the increasing concentration of industries of the first category in the NIS countries and other developing countries. The share of developing countries (including NIS countries) increased in the production of cotton fabrics from 20 to 40%. During the same time, their share in footwear production increased from 10% to 45%. Today, practically half (by value) of the output of the mass branches of the light industry of the capitalist world is concentrated in the developing countries and the countries of the NIS.

The second group of industries, represented by expensive goods that require high skill in their production, as well as sufficiently high technology, still remains mainly the "monopoly" of the developed countries. Although here there is a tendency to shift production to developing countries, especially in the production of cheaper goods, the jewelry industry, the fur, carpet and even porcelain industries. Nevertheless, in such industries as furniture, over 80% of production is concentrated in developed countries, fur - 75%, jewelry - about 70% by value.

These three sectors today account for about a third of the world's light industry production by value. But to date, geographical shifts in the light industry have been most pronounced in its leading industry - the textile industry. Despite the fact that it belongs to the typical old industries, in the era of scientific and technological revolution, the world production of textile fibers shows a constant growth trend. But at the same time cardinal shifts are taking place in the structure of fiber production, expressed in a decrease in the share of natural and in an increase in the share of chemical fiber.

There are five main regions in the world textile industry. East Asia, South Asia, CIS, foreign Europe and the USA. In each of them, the production of cotton fabrics and fabrics from chemical fibers predominates, while the rest of the sub-sectors: wool, linen, silk are of less importance. But the ratio of these regions has changed over the past decades. Many of the old industrial districts that pioneered the industrial revolution have fallen into disrepair. In developing countries, on the contrary, there is a tendency towards accelerated growth of the textile industry, where it develops primarily due to the availability of cheap labor. Some countries already have a well-established textile industry, here it is among the traditional ones: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, etc. In the NIS countries, on the contrary, it arose relatively recently, but on a modern basis.

Among the world leaders in the production of fabrics in the top five are China, India, Russia, the USA, and Japan. A significant proportion of fabrics, especially ready-made garments, from developing countries is exported to Western countries (see annex 24).

In the second half of the XX century. Asia became the leader of the light industry of the world. China controls 25% of the market for sports and home shoes, a significant share of sales of cotton underwear, etc.

Western Europe refocused on modeling and designing new fashionable products, providing various industries with the most modern high-performance equipment, advertising the achievements of fashion houses, while retaining the production of a few types of expensive garments, shoes, haberdashery, and various accessories.

In the first place is the production of fabrics from chemical fibers, including the so-called blended fabrics. In fact, this is the modern equivalent of the traditional silk and wool industry, since at present, man-made fiber fabrics are not only replacing, but also replacing traditional silk and wool fabrics. In addition, these fabrics compete with cotton and linen, especially "blended fabrics", where natural fibers are also included in the composition of the raw materials. Such fabrics from chemical fibers are currently produced on average 32-35 billion m 2 . The largest producers of such fabrics in the capitalist world are the USA, where the average annual production is about 10 billion m 2, India - 3-4 billion m 2, Japan - 3-4 billion m 2, South Korea - 2-3 billion m 2, Taiwan - 2-2.5 billion m 2 , China, Germany. The rest of the producers in the capitalist world produce less than 1 billion m 2 .

At the same time, the main exporters of fabrics are South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and such a large manufacturer as the United States exports less than 5% of its products, while South Korea's export quota is 75%.

In contrast to the production of chemical fabrics, the production of cotton fabrics is increasingly becoming the lot of developing countries. The first place among the producers of cotton fabrics is currently occupied by India, China is close to it. The United States, which ranks third, already produces almost half as much cotton fabric as India. The average annual production in India ranges from 8-9.5 billion m 2 , in the USA - within 3.5-4 billion m 2 , Japan gave an average of 2 billion m 2 . Countries such as Italy, Germany, Taiwan, France, Egypt, produced on average from 1 to 1.5 billion m 2 of fabrics per year, and the once largest producer of cotton fabrics in the world - Great Britain - dropped to the level of 300 million m 2 per year , yielding not only to South Korea, but even to Portugal.

The main exporters are developing countries such as Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Taiwan, which account for almost a third of the world's exports of cotton fabrics. Of the developed countries, Germany, Japan, Italy are significant exporters, supplying the highest quality types of fabrics. The total production reaches about 30 billion m 2 per year, and export - 7-8 billion m 2 per year.

All other types of fabrics are produced in incomparably smaller quantities. Thus, the production of purely woolen fabrics is 1.3-1.5 billion m 2 per year, concentrating mainly in Western Europe, USA Japan and to a small extent in China and South Africa.

Even less is the production of linen fabrics, concentrated primarily in France, as well as in Belgium, Holland and Great Britain. The production of natural silk, which at one time almost disappeared, has begun to revive in the last 15 years, now concentrating in the PRC, Japan and India, and to a very small extent in Italy and other Western European countries. In addition to factory fabrics, the world continues to produce handicraft fabrics on a significant scale, a certain part of which enters the world market in the form of artistic goods and is exported from developing countries to developed countries as luxury goods. The largest category of goods of this kind is the sari fabric produced in India (according to various estimates of production - 3-5 billion m 2), part of which is exported. A significant part of the handicraft production of brocade, velvet and satin is exported. The largest exporters of such goods are India and China. It retains its export value and the production of cashmere in India and Pakistan, the production of tiftik in Turkey.

Carpet industry can be considered a special branch of the textile industry, which has developed extremely in the last quarter of a century. Nowadays, most of the factory-made carpets are the so-called woven materials, and only a third of them are factory-made, traditionally knitted. The main materials are chemical fibers and only traditional knitted carpets are made from wool. The main manufacturer of carpets in the capitalist world (woven type) is the USA. In addition to them, Belgium and England are major exporters, exporting woven (knitted) carpets. The total production of factory carpets is approximately 5-7 billion m 2 per year, while the production of handicraft carpets barely reaches 1 billion m 2 . India's largest manufacturer and exporter of handicraft carpets.

A huge role is currently played by knitwear production, which has advanced in developed countries to the position of the main sub-sector of textile production. In countries such as Germany, knitwear has long been not inferior to the production of fabrics, and in some years even surpasses them. However, the production of expensive complex knitwear is now concentrated in developed countries, and the production of cheap underwear is increasingly transferred to developing countries, which have become the largest exporters of this product to the leading countries of the world. In terms of total production, the United States ranks first in the capitalist world, followed by Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the FRG.

The placement of the textile industry is not the same for developed and developing countries. In developed countries, the inheritance from the past rural fabric production is still large. specific gravity textile areas with a finely dispersed location of production. These are, as a rule, small textile enterprises specialized in the production of complex types of textiles. Large factories tend to be concentrated in areas of heavy industry, where they use free female labor. There are almost no textile enterprises left in the capital cities, and large specialized centers are generally rare.

On the contrary, in developing countries, the concentration of the textile industry in large and important port cities is typical. Because of this, very often the textile centers of developing countries are larger than those of developed countries. Therefore, in naming the leading centers of the textile industry in the world, we have to name Bombay in India, El Mahalla el Kubra in Egypt, Hong Kong and São Paulo in Brazil. At the same time, the largest areas of the textile industry in the world is the South Atlantic region in the United States, some points of which are not inferior in size to the above-mentioned cities.

The post-war period saw the transformation of the garment industry from a custom semi-artisanal production, carried out mainly by homeworkers or in small workshops, into a powerful industry of the conveyor type. At the same time, the garment industry is shifting from developed to developing countries, and in a wide range of countries. Today, countries like Hong Kong or India, not only in terms of exports, but also in terms of the overall capacity of the clothing industry, are not inferior to the leading capitalist countries. In terms of production value, the clothing industry today is close to the production of fabrics.

In practice, there are now two types of clothing production: the first is for own needs, characteristic of developed countries, with great importance for workshops and fashion houses, where, along with production, “taste”, fashion style is formed. The second is the type of production of developing countries, which produce products for export according to the models of the leading fashion centers of the West, their clothing industry is represented along with powerful conveyor-type factories, a huge number of home-based artisans who produce export products through distribution offices of large exporting firms. such products to the world market. The location of this industry in developed countries is predominantly large-scale in nature. Metropolitan centers are often the main ones for the clothing industry. On a global scale stand out: Rome - as a center of mass fashion,

Paris - as the center of "high" fashion and New York - as the world's largest center of the clothing industry in general, counting in terms of production costs.

Developing countries are generally characterized by a dispersed location of the clothing industry, often even in rural areas, although there are some very large centers, such as Hong Kong.

Similar trends, especially those related to the production of mass consumer goods, are also characteristic of the CIS. To share Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, where almost all cotton fiber and more than 25% of raw silk threads are produced, account for 17.8% of the production of fabrics. The trend of the textile industry towards sources of raw materials is clearly increasing; however, the old trend of placing it in the old industrial European regions of the CIS is also steadily preserved. The release of artificial fiber by the chemical industry, contributing to the improvement of the raw material base of the textile industry, not only kept it in the traditional textile regions of the Center, North-West of Russia, the Baltic states and other republics, but also expanded its geography.

But there are also significant differences, firstly, in the sectoral technological structures associated with their weak diversification and obsolescence, and secondly, in the territorial structure, the latter refers to such industries as, for example, the clothing industry, which has received sufficient development in the form large associations in metropolitan and large regional centers and poorly developed in other cities. Although this industry has a more dispersed nature of location than the textile industry, the location of its facilities does not adequately correspond to the geography of consumption. As a result, a balanced development of a number of republics and many of their regions was not ensured. The foregoing applies primarily to areas specializing in the production of heavy industry products.

Significantly changed its structure. Currently, in the textile industry, depending on the raw materials used, cotton, woolen, silk, linen sub-sectors and the production of non-woven materials (artificial fibers) are distinguished.

For a long period of time, the main branch of the world's textile industry was cotton, followed by wool, linen and the processing of artificial fibers. At present, the share of chemical fibers in the world production of fabrics has increased significantly, while the share of cotton, wool, and especially flax has decreased. Great importance had the creation of mixed fabrics from natural and chemical fibers, knitwear (knitted fabric). The share of chemical fibers in the textile industry of developed countries has especially increased. In developing countries, cotton, wool, natural silk remain the main types of textile raw materials, although the share of products made from chemical fibers has recently increased significantly. Today, the structure of the textile industry is as follows: cotton - 67%, production of chemical fibers - 20%, woolen - 10%, linen - 1.6%, others - 1.4%.

The textile industry as a whole is developing at a faster pace in the group of developing countries. Today, five main regions have developed in the global textile industry: East Asia, South Asia, the CIS, Foreign Europe and. Asia has become the main region of the textile industry in the world, which today provides about 70% of the total amount of fabrics, more than half of the production of cotton and woolen fabrics.

The main producers of cotton fabrics are China (30% of world production), India (10%), USA, Japan, Taiwan, France (see table 28 of the textbook, page 394.).
The leading producers of wool and woolen fabrics are Australia and China.

And in the production of the most expensive silk fabrics, with the absolute leadership of the United States (over 50%), there is also a very large share, especially China and (more than 40%).

The production of linen fabrics has significantly decreased. AT in large numbers they are produced only in Russia and in the countries of Western Europe (in,).

(especially the USA, Italy, Japan, France), while reducing their share in the production of cotton and woolen fabrics, remain the largest manufacturers of knitwear, fabrics from chemical fibers (synthetic and blended). Although in these types of textile industry their role is steadily declining due to the organization of production in (India, China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, etc.). Ten largest producers of chemical fibers.

In Russia, which used to be one of the largest manufacturers of all types of natural fabrics in the world, there is a strong decline in their production.

In the era of scientific and technological revolution, cardinal changes took place in the world production of fabrics both in the sectoral and in the territorial structure. The rapid growth in the production of chemical fibers has changed the entire structure and technology of fabric production. Natural fabrics have a powerful competitor - fabrics made from chemical fibers: analogues of silk, wool and cotton. Of even greater importance was the creation of mixed fabrics from natural and chemical fibers. The development of manufacturing technology made it possible to combine the best physical and other properties of both.

At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the technological benefits of using chemical fibers, which are immediately produced in the form of continuous threads (except for staple fibers) and do not require a spinning process, as with natural fibers. The use of chemical fibers in the production of silk fabrics allows, due to their strength, to significantly increase the speed of weaving machines, as well as knitting and others. The chemicalization of the industry contributed to the development of the production of non-woven materials that do not require spinning and weaving processes at all.

The textile industry produces the following types of fabrics: blended fabrics (from different types chemical fibers with an admixture of natural); natural - cotton, woolen, silk, linen; knitwear (mainly from synthetic fibers). The world textile industry annually consumes over 45 million tons of basic raw materials, of which about 50% are synthetic and artificial fibers, about 45% - cotton and 4-5% - wool, silk, etc. The world annually produces more than 100 billion square meters fabrics (including blended, cotton, wool, silk, knitwear).

Among the regions for the production of the industry's products, Asia stands out (over 40% of the world's production of fabrics), which is almost two times ahead of North America and Europe. Moreover, highly developed countries are primarily focused on the production of expensive clothes from expensive high-quality fabrics and knitwear, the production of which is located there. (Fig. 3.1)

Among the countries of the world, the largest increase in production in recent decades has come from Asian countries, primarily China, the Republic of Korea, India, and Thailand. The world leaders in the production of fabrics from natural fibers (in total: cotton, woolen and silk) are China, the USA, India, followed by the Republic of Korea, Japan, Germany, far behind.

In the global textile industry, the production of fabrics from chemical fibers, or rather, the so-called “blended” fabrics, the raw materials of which include both chemical fibers (artificial and synthetic) and natural ones, is currently taking the first place. They replace and gradually replace natural silk and woolen fabrics, and even compete with cotton ones, since fabrics with the addition of chemical fibers are more practical to wear, better, less prone to wrinkling, etc. Types of fabrics known in the past, such as woolen or linen (not speaking of purely silk) fabrics, play a very insignificant role, giving approximately only about 10% of the world production of fabrics. The main thing is fabrics from synthetic fibers (with an admixture of natural), which are produced 35-40 billion square meters, and purely cotton, the production of which is 30-35 billion square meters. Woolen fabrics now make up only about 3 billion square meters, even less linen and pure silk. But knitted fabrics and products from them are produced in quantities close to 30 billion square meters. In addition, there is the production of hand-woven fabrics in the world, such as, for example, the Indian fabric - sari, which is very well known on the world market, is produced annually in the amount of 5-6 billion square meters. and partially exported.

The main producer of blended fabrics is still the United States (10 billion square meters), although their importance in the textile industry is gradually declining, it is losing its positions to China and India. In second place is India - about 4 billion square meters, Japan is close to it. They are followed by China, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan. The rest of the countries provide less than 2 billion square meters. fabrics per year.

The main producers of cotton fabrics today are China and India (7-9 billion square meters), the United States occupies only the fourth place in the world with an average annual production of about 5 billion square meters. Next come Italy and a number of countries with an average production of 1.5 to 2 billion square meters. per year - these are countries such as Mexico or Pakistan (table 1). Once the largest fabric manufacturer, Great Britain now produces less than 300 million square meters, yielding even to Portugal, and covers its needs mainly with imported fabrics from third world countries. The main exporters of cotton fabrics, in addition to India and China, were Pakistan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Egypt. Third world countries today account for more than half of the world's exports of cotton fabrics.

Table 3.1.

Leading states of the world in the production of cotton fabrics,

2005-2008, million [comp. ed. source 5]

And only in the production of knitwear, the positions of developed countries are still significant (especially Italy), but their role is gradually decreasing due to the organization of knitwear production in developing countries, which today provide almost half of the world production of this type of fabric and products from them.

Woolen fabrics are produced primarily in Western Europe, but also in China, India and, to a lesser extent, Japan. The total output is from 1.5 billion to 2 billion square meters. in 2008 (table 2).

Table 3.2

Leading states of the world in the production of woolen fabrics,

2006-2008, mln. sq.m. [comp. ed. source 5]

Country	years
China
India
France	94,7
Japan
Turkey	88,3			94,5

Linen fabrics are produced even less. In addition to Russia, they are produced in significant quantities in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as in the UK.

The production of natural silk, which at one time almost disappeared, has begun to revive in the last 20 years, releasing very expensive "artistic" fabrics, mainly in China, Japan, India and Italy.

In addition to factory fabrics, the world continues to produce handicraft fabrics for local needs. However, some of their types, as "handicraft" products, also enter the world market. The most famous of these is the sari-type fabric, which is produced in India.

In the global textile industry, the production of “blended” fabrics comes first. The main producers of all types of fabrics are China, India, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Great Britain are significantly inferior to them.

Similar information.

The world is of great social importance, because it produces various types of products for personal use and thus forms one of the most important components of the material well-being of people.

Peculiarities:

• especially close connection with the consumer, dependence on the historical, geographical and socio-economic level of development of the population of a particular territory;
• special dynamism of the industry, expressed in a rapid change in the range of products due to changes in fashion, tastes, etc.;
• variability of requirements for raw materials, semi-finished products, accessories and their design, as well as for technologies and organization of production;
• special requirements for the quality of the workforce (availability of artistic culture, taste, etc.).

Industry composition

Light industry has a rather complex sectoral structure. It includes:

• raw materials production: production of cotton and raw cotton, processing of skins, etc.;
• semi-product industries: spinning, textile, dyeing, leather, fur, etc.;
• production of final products: sewing, knitwear, carpet, haberdashery, footwear, etc.

The developed ones (especially the USA, Italy, Japan, France), while reducing their share in the production of cotton and woolen fabrics, remain the largest manufacturers of knitwear, fabrics from chemical fibers (synthetic and mixed). Although in these types of textile industry their role is steadily declining due to the organization of production in developing countries (India, China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, etc.). Ten largest producers of chemical fibers.

In Russia, which used to be one of the largest manufacturers of all types of natural fabrics in the world, there is a strong decline in their production.

clothing industry

It has become the leading branch of light industry, consumes the vast majority of fabrics produced in the world, is characterized by high labor intensity, active demand for products, especially fashionable ones, as well as an extraordinary variety of goods.

As in the textile industry, the importance of developing countries is great. Many of them, primarily China, India, Taiwan, have become the largest manufacturers and exporters of ready-made clothing. Developed countries (especially the USA, France, Italy, etc.) are increasingly specialized in

production of fashionable, elite, individual products.

shoe industry

The range of this industry is quite high, although it is somewhat inferior to the clothing industry. The industry is characterized by a variety of raw materials for production. In addition to natural, recently synthetic raw materials are increasingly being used, which are much cheaper. Expensive leather shoes today is no more than 1/3 of total number produced shoes (12 billion pairs per year).

The shoe industry, among the light industries, has moved to the greatest extent from developed countries to. The leaders in the manufacture of shoes were the PRC (which overtook the previous leaders and the United States in its production and gives more than 40% of the world's shoes) and other Asian countries - the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam,. In (Italy, the USA, the FRG stand out) mainly the manufacture of leather shoes from expensive raw materials, with a high labor intensity of production, has been preserved. Italy is the largest producer and exporter of such footwear. In Russia, the production of shoes for last years decreased several times, and the country from the world's largest producer of footwear (in 1990 second only to China) has become a significant importer of footwear.

Thus, the main branches of light industry are currently developing especially rapidly in the countries of new industrialization and other developing countries, which is largely due to their high supply of raw materials and cheap labor. Industrialized countries, having lost their positions in a number of traditional mass, technically uncomplicated industries (cheap types of fabrics, footwear, clothing, and other types of consumer goods), retain their leading role in the manufacture of especially fashionable, high-quality, expensive products oriented towards high technology and qualification of labor, a limited circle of consumers (production of carpets, furs, jewelry, standards of footwear, clothing, fabrics from expensive raw materials, etc.).