Footwear exports reached 730 million USD in April alone, bringing the total export turnover of the products in the first four months of this year to nearly 2.9 billion USD, up 21.9 percent on year-on-year basis.

The export of bags, suitcases, umbrellas and hats climbed to 821 million USD in the reviewed period, up 48 percent against the corresponding time in 2013.

The earnings from footwear exports to the traditional markets of the US, Japan, Belgium, Germany and France soared stably in the January-April period, in addition to smaller importers, including Chile (up 80.85 percent), Israel (up 120.41 percent), Greece (up 78.2 percent) and Poland (161.7 percent).

The turnover was also driven by the recovery of consumption in major importers, especially the European Union.

The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) expects footwear exports prosper due to the development of a competitive edge, the introduction of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) taxes and the forthcoming signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement.

The association also asserted Vietnam’s footwear and bags have competitive advantages in the US, Japan and other TPP members.

It encouraged domestic footwear producers to innovate their existing technologies to increase the productivity as well as improve the quality of products.-VNA