Vietnam ’s turnover from footwear exports reached over 1 billion USD in the first quarter of 2010, up 10 percent over the same period last year and coming third among the over 1 billion USD earners, after garments and crude oil.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the EU continues to be Vietnam ’s largest importer of footwear with a turnover of 326 million USD in the first two months of this year, accounting for more than 48 percent of the country’s total. It was followed by the US and Japan .

At present, Vietnam ’s footwear products, mainly sports shoes, cloth and leather shoes and sandals, are exported to 50 countries and territories worldwide.

According to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), Vietnam now ranks fourth amongst the worlds 10 leading footwear exporters. In 2009, the turnover of the country’s footwear exports reached nearly 4.8 billion USD and is expected to increase to 5.6 billion USD this year, a rise of 17 percent over last year.

To boost stable growth and competitiveness in the global market, Lefaso’s Chairman Nguyen Duc Thuan has recommended that domestic businesses pay more attention to design, while producing products that are suitable to each market’s demand and tastes.

The association has suggested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade urgently build up a trademark and train more human resources for the footwear fashion industry in order to improve the value of the country’s export products./.