Germany, Production and Imports of Sunglasses down

In 2002, the German market for sunglasses, with 7.7 million pieces, underwent a sharp downswing of 24.8%. The production of the four German manufacturers dropped by over 62% to approximately 70,000 pieces. Exports rose by 8.7% to 6.0 million pieces: this evidently reflects mass re-exportation.

Instead, supplies from abroad have dropped: 29.3 million pieces, or a decline of 17.5%. The leading supplier country was China with 19.9 million pieces (24.5% less than 2001). A total of 2.4 million pairs of sunglasses (+5.9%) were imported from EU countries. Here, Italy was the most important supplier with 1.4 million pieces, for an increase of 16.5%.