Ha Noi (VNA) – Viet Nam expects to earn 4.5 billion USD from footwear exports this year, an increase of 15.4 percent over last year, according to the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso).
The association said the country’s chief export markets are the US, the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia. However, it said there was great potential for Vietnamese footwear products in Africa, Southern Asia and Eastern Europe where competition is not so intense and regulations are less stringent.
Nguyen Thi Tong, deputy chairwoman and general secretary of Lefaso, said Viet Nam’s leather and footwear sector competed favourably with other major manufacturing countries for quality. However, she said infrastructure in Viet Nam needed to be improved.
The sector planned to improve the quality of its medium and luxury products to improve their competitiveness, said Tong. Producers also planned to develop their workforces and improve product designs and marketing, she said.
Tong said the sector needed to invest heavily in raw materials and accessories in order to move into full rather than partial production.
Leather and footwear producers should increase imports of raw materials if domestic producers failed to supply the market’s needs, she added.
To ensure an ample supply of materials, Lefaso has asked the Ministry of Finance to cut import tariffs for raw materials and accessories from 3 percent to 0 percent.
Lefaso has also recommended that the Government generate policies to attract foreign investment into the leather-tanning sector by building industrial zones for leather and footwear producers.
The sector would also look at enhancing leather and footwear advertising, market research and distribution systems overseas. This would assist in expanding the export market for leather and footwear, Lefaso said.-Enditem
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