Leather, footwear sector forecasts 18 bln USD of export earnings

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Theleather and footwear sector forecasts that its export earnings can reach 18billion USD this year, up more than 10 percent from 2016, while manufacturingindex would grow by 5 percent.

According to experts, orders for footwearand bag processing may be diverted from factories in China to those in Vietnam.The shift is attributable to China’s cut back on incentives for investment in garmentand footwear sector to focus on high technology.

Another factor is the Vietnam-EuropeanUnion free trade agreement which will take effect in 2018 and afford Vietnamesefootwear makers more chances to boost export.

The Vietnam Leather, Footwear andHandbag Association reported that the sector raked in 16.2 billion USD fromexport last year, up 8.8 percent from 2015. Of which, 13 billion USD was from footwearand the remaining was from handbags and leather items, marking respective annualincreases of 8.2 percent and 11.1 percent.

Footwear currently ranks fourthand suitcase-bag-briefcase ranks tenth among Vietnam’s top 10 foreign currencyearners.

The sector’s manufacturing index in2016 rose a modest 3.7 percent year-on-year, much lower than the 17.4 percentand 22 percent growth in 2015 and 2014, respectively, due to fluctuations inthe world economic situation and falling demand, especially from the EU.-VNA

VNA