Vietnam ’s footwear exports are forecast to reach 6 billion USD in 2011, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In the first 10 months of 2011, footwear exports earned 5.11 billion USD, up 25.8 percent year-on-year, ranking the item at the third place in terms of export turnover after garments and crude oil.

The growth was attributed mainly to the European Commission’s abolishment of anti-dumping duties against Vietnamese leather-capped shoes.

However, the volume of footwear exports to the EU decreased by 20-30 percent last month due to the economic crisis in those countries. /.