Vietnamese shoemakers target US$4.5 billion in exports
21 January 2008Vietnam expects to earn US$4.5 billion from footwear exports this year, an increase of 15.4% 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 EU, 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 Vietnam'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. 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. Source: Vietnam News Agency
