Footwear sector forecasts exports to double

Lao Dong

Vietnam’s leather and footwear sector expects to more than double export turnover to US$11.5 billion within the next six years.

At a meeting in Hanoi to set out its 2010 to 2015 national export strategy, the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) Wednesday forecast the sector would generate $6.2 billion from exports next year and $11.5 billion by 2015.

Last year, exports of leather and footwear earned $4.8 billion, 8 percent of the national export turnover.

The meeting heard the sector made $915 million from exports in the first quarter of this year, down 10.8 percent on the same period last year.

The decrease in export earnings was not so alarming given the global economic slowdown, Lefaso Chairman Nguyen Van Thuan told the conference.

Since 2002, Vietnam’s shoemaking sector has posted an average annual growth rate of 23 percent.

Over the past five years, the sector has also earned an annual average of $621 million from domestic sales. On average, Vietnam’s population of more than 85 million people snaps up 110 million pairs of made-in-Vietnam shoes a year.

The industry expects continue its impressive growth rate, predicting the size of its workforce will increase from 550,000 now to 820,000 next year and to 1.2 million in 2015.

But the meeting heard the sector may also face some challenges in the future, in the form of dumping allegations. Dumping is defined as the export of items at either below cost or below the price charged in the home market.

The European Union already imposes a 10 percent dumping tax on imports of leather shoes made in Vietnam.

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