The main industries in Putian are shoes and clothing, wood processing and gold jewelry. Putian City is known as "China Shoes City", and the footwear industry is the pillar industry of Putian. There are more than 4,200 shoes enterprises in Putian, employing more than 500,000 people, with an annual output of10.26 billion pairs, accounting for 9.3% of the national output.

The economic performance of Putian is not weak. Due to its special geographical location and economic structure, the economic development speed of Putian is not as fast as that of some other cities.