“You have to understand that export flows are often items that have been imported” said the president of the shoe industry association, APICCAPS, João Maia, which is responsible for editing the publication.

The Portuguese footwear industry is second only to Italy in terms of the average price of its products and ahead of countries such as Japan, Spain and Indonesia.

João Maia stressed that "Portugal is now at historical maximums regarding export values", having grown 50% between 2009 and 2014, meaning it grew at about 10% a year", after which it grew at about 1% or 2% a year.

The APICCAPS year book said that Portugal last year exported more than $2 billion and 79 million pairs of shoes, mainly to France, Germany, Holland, Spain and the UK.