Yue Yuen Industrial Ltd. the Chinese manufacturing company that makes footwear for many key athletic and outdoor brands, reported sales rose 19.9 percent to $1.61 billion for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31.

 

Management said both footwear manufacturing and the retail operations in the Greater China Region saw solid sales growth compared to the same period last year, according to management. Shipment growth to the U.S. region, up 13.3 percent, was the smallest increase of the major regions.

 

For the six month first half period, the group’s shoe manufacturing sales increased by 27.1 percent to $2.34 billion, underpinned by shoe manufacturing volume that was up by 19.7 percent to 162.8 million pairs, and an increase of 6.2 percent in the average sales price to $14.35 per pair.

 

The total number of production lines grew by 10.0 percent to 506 lines for the six months ended March 31. Yue Yuen said in a statement that shoe manufacturing activity represented 70.8 percent of the Group’s sales for the six-month period noting that the group’s major customers have seen their sales grow in their recent financial year and expect calendar year 2011 also to experience sales growth. For April 2011, management said unaudited group sales grew due to the continuing recovery of the global economy.

 

Total April Group sales increased by around 26.0 percent year-on-year to approximately $613 million.