Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s leather and footwear industry expects toreach a total export value of 18 billion USD this year, up 10 percent from lastyear, said the Vietnam Leather, Footwear andHandbag Association (Lefaso).
According to Lefasco, there are plenty of chances for expanding exports giventhat orders for footwear and bag processing may be diverted from factories inChina that have cut back on incentives for investment in garment and footwearmanufacturing to focus on high technology.
Another promising element is the European Union-Vietnam free trade agreement,which will take effect in 2018 and afford Vietnamese footwear makers moreopportunities to boost exports.
To achieve this year’s target, the leather and footwear sector needs toboost technological innovation, invest in new equipment and moderniseexisting equipment, expand the production scale of domestic enterprises toincrease productivity as well as improve the quality ofproducts, Lefasco said.
Lafesco reported that the sector raked in 16.2 billion USD from export lastyear, up 8.8 percent from 2015. Of which, 13 billion USD came from footwear andthe remaining was from handbags and leather items, marking respective annualincreases of 8.2 percent and 11.1 percent.
According to Lefaso, leather and footwear exports last year faced many difficultiesas orders from the EU market plummeted and the sector’s export to ASEAN marketswas also unstable.
Since January 1, 2016, the tax levied on footwear and leather handbags anditems circulated within the ASEAN bloc have been reduced to 0 percent, leadingto stiffer competition from regional rivals.
Vietnamese enterprises also confronted obstacles due to the lack of capital andincreasing input costs, which significantly affected the footwear sector’sexport. Footwear currently ranks fourth and suitcase-bag-briefcase ranks tenthamong Vietnam’s top 10 foreign currency earners.
The sector’s manufacturing index in 2016 rose a modest 3.7 percentyear-on-year, much lower than the 17.4 percent and 22 percent growth in 2015and 2014, respectively.-VNA
According to Lefasco, there are plenty of chances for expanding exports giventhat orders for footwear and bag processing may be diverted from factories inChina that have cut back on incentives for investment in garment and footwearmanufacturing to focus on high technology.
Another promising element is the European Union-Vietnam free trade agreement,which will take effect in 2018 and afford Vietnamese footwear makers moreopportunities to boost exports.
To achieve this year’s target, the leather and footwear sector needs toboost technological innovation, invest in new equipment and moderniseexisting equipment, expand the production scale of domestic enterprises toincrease productivity as well as improve the quality ofproducts, Lefasco said.
Lafesco reported that the sector raked in 16.2 billion USD from export lastyear, up 8.8 percent from 2015. Of which, 13 billion USD came from footwear andthe remaining was from handbags and leather items, marking respective annualincreases of 8.2 percent and 11.1 percent.
According to Lefaso, leather and footwear exports last year faced many difficultiesas orders from the EU market plummeted and the sector’s export to ASEAN marketswas also unstable.
Since January 1, 2016, the tax levied on footwear and leather handbags anditems circulated within the ASEAN bloc have been reduced to 0 percent, leadingto stiffer competition from regional rivals.
Vietnamese enterprises also confronted obstacles due to the lack of capital andincreasing input costs, which significantly affected the footwear sector’sexport. Footwear currently ranks fourth and suitcase-bag-briefcase ranks tenthamong Vietnam’s top 10 foreign currency earners.
The sector’s manufacturing index in 2016 rose a modest 3.7 percentyear-on-year, much lower than the 17.4 percent and 22 percent growth in 2015and 2014, respectively.-VNA
VNA
