Vietnam earned 4.8 billion USD from exporting footwear in the first haft of this year, a year-on-year increase of 21.9 percent.

This is mainly thanks to the Generalise System of Preferences (GSP) tax offered by the European Union (EU) from January 2014 to Vietnamese exporters, experts said.

Besides, with the political stability, the abundant workforce and the high quality of the products, Vietnam has won many contracts from foreign importers.

The earnings from footwear export to the traditional markets of the US, Japan, Belgium, and Germany saw a stable soar in the reviewed period, while those from a number of other markets such as Chile, Greece and Poland also surged drastically.

The positive signs along with new business opportunities are expected to help the sector complete its export turnover target of about 11 billion USD in 2014.

Some large Vietnamese enterprises have increased investment in upgrading technology, modernising production chain, and developing their own brand name for export. Thanks to these, the sector’s labour productivity has increased up to 30 percent.-VNA