Workers process shoes in a FDI enterprise’s factory in Vietnam (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam exported overone billion pairs out of 23 billion pairs of shoes sold worldwide in 2017, continuingto maintain the second position (after China) in shoes export.
According to the latest statistics of the World Footwear Magazine in 2017,Vietnam continued to rank second among the top 10 largest footwear exporters,with 1.02 billion pairs of shoes, equivalent to 7.4 percent of the globalfootwear supply, said Diep Thanh Kiet, Vice Chairman of theVietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO).
China still maintained the top position in exporting shoes, with 9.31 billionpairs, representing 67.3 percent of the total 23 billion pairs of shoes theworld consumed in 2017.
Asia continued to be recognised as the world’s leading region in the productionand consumption of footwear throughout the world.
Meanwhile, the United States was the largest footwear importer; the countryimported 2.34 billion pairs of shoes last year, accounting for 19.6 percent ofglobal footwear consumption.
Export of Vietnam’s backpacks and handbags continued to rise, to make it to thetop five countries exporting these products in the world today.
In 2017, the export turnover of backpacks and handbags in Vietnam was estimatedat USD3.3 billion, accounting for 5.5 percent of global production, but onlyabout one-seventh as compared to China’s supply.
Kiet said the biggest challenge for the domestic footwear-handbags industry wasthe low level of technology application in management and production, ascompared to regional and foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises.
The labour productivity of domestic enterprises was only equal to 60-70 percentof FDI enterprises. Most domestic firms have not joined the global supplychain; meanwhile, international brands usually tend to deeply control theglobal supply chain. In addition, labour costs in Vietnam were risingsignificantly, Kiet added.
Not only interfering in the price of the goods, importers were now graduallyintervening in the traceability of raw materials and factories supplyingmachinery for production.
On the other hand, the time taken for supplying goods, productconfidentiality, the level of technology used, and advantages of raw materialsupply are given priority to help consumers select where to place an order andprocess production, Kiet said. - VNA
VNA
