Footwear sector plans to develop supporting industry

The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) has submitted to the government a strategy to develop the sector from now till 2020 with a vision for 2015, focusing on the supporting and material industry.

According to Lefaso President Nguyen Duc Thuan, the strategy aims at ending the sector’s dependence on foreign materials and technologies and shifting from sub-contracting.

Under the strategy, the sector will need VND 18.8 trillion (US$989 million) to produce shoetrees and models and expand production of materials including leather and leatherette.

The plan is expected to help the sector to earn US$8.5 billion from exports by 2015 and US$11 billion by 2020 with the localisation rate of 65-75% from 50% at present.

Lefaso President Thuan explained that the strategy was prompted by the fact that the sector has been suffering from a serious shortage of materials for many years, due to a lack of supporting industry.

At present, the country has only 30 enterprises, including five with foreign investment capital, producing tanned leather, the main material for the footwear sector. Those enterprises can meet only 30% of the demands for materials of domestic footwear enterprises.

The Lefaso leader further said that the sector has also to cope with the EU’s anti-dumping tax on Vietnam’s footwear products.

In an effort to boost exports, Lefaso has carried out many promotion activities, including hosting the 29th international conference of the Asian footwear sector and the international fair of footwear materials and machines.

At present, Vietnamese shoe makers have got orders for exports to fill until the first quarter of 2011, as customers are shifting their attention from China to Vietnam.

In the first nine months of the year, the sector earned over US$3.6 billion from exports, a year-on-year increase of 23%. The figure is expected to hit over US$5 billion by the end of the year. (VNA)

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