Vietnam's footwear exports to U.S. market increase by 10% in Q1

Vietnam’s footwear and bag export value is forecast to reach 24 billion USD this year, maintaining a 2-digit increase. Footwear is one of the key export products of Viet Nam to the U.S. with export turnover in the first quarter of this year reaching US$1.56 billion, an increase of 10% compared to the same period last year.
May 26, 2020 | 14:30
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Vietnam's footwear exports to U.S. market increase by 10% in Q1
Footwear exports into U.S. market increase 10% in Q1. (Photo: VGP)

According to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), Vietnam’s footwear export totaled 22 billion USD last year, 12% higher than the previous year. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement has expanded Vietnam’s footwear export market to Mexico, Canada, Chile, and Peru. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, Secretary General of Lefaso, said the footwear industry recorded stable growth and maintained its competitive edge in traditional markets. “The sector’s industrial production index in 2019 increased 10% and its export value totaled 22 billion USD, surpassing the set target. It signals further growth of the footwear sector which has developed steadily since 2014. We hope to seize every opportunity.”

Vietnam has expanded its footwear export market to more than 100 countries, 70 of which import more than 1 million USD worth of Vietnamese footwear. Lefaso says in 2020 the sector’s industrial production index is expected to increase 11% and the localization rate of products will hit 60 percent, while the export value will increase 10% to 24 billion USD, reported the vov.

Cao Quoc Hung, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade says Vietnamese footwear companies need to reform technology, increase productivity, and be more proactive in developing the market and increasing competitiveness: “The Ministry of Industry and Trade is building a strategy on footwear sector development until 2030 and a vision to 2035 this year to provide the government and enterprises a roadmap for making leather footwear a spearhead economic sector.”

Vietnam's footwear exports to U.S. market increase by 10% in Q1
Workers at a footwear production plant in Vietnam (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)

However, according to the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, amid the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Vietnamese footwear exporters said that they have not been able to close the deal for contract negotiations for the second and third quarters as footwear consumption has been declining.

Vietnam's footwear exports to U.S. market increase by 10% in Q1
Illurtration photo on the sggp.

Many experts forecast that after the pandemic is controlled, demand for footwear in the U.S. will highly increase.

Therefore, from now, Vietnamese enterprises should strongly promote trade to the U.S. market.

Last year was as a successful year for Viet Nam's footwear export as it was worth US$18.3 billion, up 13 per cent year-on-year.

In 2019, the U.S. imported the largest share of Vietnamese footwear products with a value of $6.65 billion, a yearly hike of 14.2%, said the VGP.

With a turnover of $1.56 billion, the U.S. retained its crown as the leading consumer of footwear products from Viet Nam in the first quarter of 2020, surging 10% over the same period last year.

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Tarah Nguyen