Despite Vietnam facing fierce competition from some countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO) forecasts that the demand for footwear products in the primary markets that the country caters to will remain high this year and the industry will continue to flourish. Though the first quarter of this year saw several holidays, the footwear industry continued to witness a two-digit growth, according to a Vietnamese media report. Footwear production in the first quarter was estimated at 62.9 million pairs of shoes, up 11.7 per cent over the same period last year. Footwear exports were estimated at $3.97 billion, up 15.3 per cent over the same period last year. LEFASO estimates the industrial index of the footwear sector will go up by 11 per cent this year compared to last year, the industry will try to raise localisation ratio of footwear products to 60 per cent, and export of footwear will rank fourth and export of handbags will rank tenth. Footwear and handbags will be in the list of top ten key export products of Vietnam, the industry body estimates. A key advantage of Vietnam’s domestic footwear industry in future is China’s reduced focus on garment, textile and footwear and diverting attention to high-tech industries. Therefore, footwear and handbag processing orders will maintain a tendency to shift from China to Vietnam. The US-China trade war will also affect domestic import and export and boost investment of foreign direct investment enterprises in the footwear industry. Footwear manufacturers also have to deal with challenges like rising trade protectionism from import countries.
