The coastal province of Zhejiang in east China exported 800 million pairs of shoes last year, an increase of 24.7 percent over 2003, local customs statistics show.

Figures from the Customs of Hangzhou, the provincial capital, show that the value of the exported shoes totaled 1.95 billion US dollars, up 30.2 percent year-on-year.

Shoes exported by local private businesses were valued at 650 million US dollars, accounting for 33.6 percent of the total and rising by 82.9 percent over that in 2003.

Zhejiang's shoe export accounted for 13.7 percent of the national total in 2004, and its value made up 13.3 percent of the national total.