According tothe Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), in the first sixmonths of the year, Vietnam’s footwear exports to France reachednearly 274 million USD, representing a 1.6 percent increase compared tothe same period last year. At present, footwear is one of the country’sfive export staples to the French market and leads other industries inexport turnover.
Footwear is among the few commodities Vietnam exports to France to takeadvantage of foreign exchange rates, as it pays for the import of rawmaterials in USD, but brings home profits from sales in Euros, Lefasosaid, adding that this has contributed to the staple’s export growth.
The association also said that Vietnam sees abundant opportunities forincreasing trade in both directions in the coming time, especiallyafter a recent visit by a delegation of French leather businesses to HoChi Minh City to study market and cooperative opportunities withVietnamese partners.
The Vietnamese footwear sector imports 80 percent of its raw materials,making it a prime potential market for the French leather sector. Thevisit offered the French businesses a chance to showcase raw materialsand high-quality semi-finished products before Vietnamesemanufacturers.
Martine Dufournet, a representative of the French business delegation,gave the nod to Vietnam’s leather and footwear products, saying thatthey are eligible for export to Europe and America .
Two-way trade between Vietnam and France has reached an annual growthrate of 25 percent since they set up diplomatic ties 20 years ago andVietnam has maintained a trade surplus with this market since 1997.
In the first six months of the year, two-way trade exceeded 1.1 billionUSD, with Vietnamese goods accounting for 635 million USD of that-up 9percent over the same period last year./.