HANOI: Vietnam’s footwear sector is expected to witness a growth of 8 percent in export revenue, instead of the targeted 10 percent in 2016, according to Vietnam Customs on Tuesday. As of Dec. 15, 2016, Vietnam has raked in over 12.3 billion US dollars from exports of footwear and over 2.99 billion dollars of suitcases, bags and umbrellas. Compared to the target of 17 billion dollars set in early 2016, it is unlikely that the country will make it this year, reported Bao Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review-VIR) online newspaper on Tuesday.
The one-digit growth this year will put more pressure on the export plan of the leather sector in 2017, said Bao Dau Tu, attributing the drop to global political instability like Brexit vote and fierce competition from other footwear exporters including Myanmar and Bangladesh, among others. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, general secretary of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso), said that most small and medium sized enterprises in the sector experienced a decrease of 30 to 60 percent year-on-year in number of orders.
However, the industry’s giants, with good production capacity, managed to have stable orders, said Xuan, adding that the foreign-invested firms and joint-ventures continue to dominate Vietnamese footwear sector. Those from China’s Taiwan and South Korea enjoy annual export revenue of billions of dollars, said the Lefaso official. According to the association, Vietnam is the world’s top four footwear manufacturers after China, India and Brazil but the third biggest exporter in term of revenue after China and Italy. Vietnamese footwear products have been present in over 50 countries and regions.
