Bags / Shoes & Accessories

According to the customs data, in the first seven months of this year, the export volume of Vietnam's leather and footwear industry increased by 13%, and the foreign exchange earned exceeded 14 billion dollars. This growth rate is fairly balanced in major markets, such as 24% in North America and 17.5% in EU.

It is worth noting that Vietnam's international trade footwear exports to the FTA market continue to show a positive recovery.

According to the customs data, the market exports to the EU Vietnam Free Trade Agreement member countries increased by 18.2% year on year, the market of the countries members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) increased by 10.5%, and the UK market exports through the Vietnam Britain Free Trade Agreement increased by 10.9%

When assessing the prospects of the leather and footwear market in the second half of the year, Pan Qingchun said that in addition to opportunities, it will face many challenges. The impact of the international situation, especially the major international trade export markets of Vietnam's leather and footwear, such as the EU and the United States, are experiencing the impact of tight consumption, which will certainly affect the purchasing power.

In terms of foreign trade export market, Vietnamese products are at a medium level in terms of quality and price. In order to compete, the industry needs to produce higher value products. To this end, high value raw materials must be imported from other countries.

Under the pressure of the rules of origin of the international trade free trade agreement, the localization rate of Vietnam in the leather and footwear industry has significantly increased. According to customs data, it has now reached 55%, especially for sports shoes, which has reached 70-80%.

The industry also set the goal of gradually increasing the overall localization rate of the whole industry to 70-80% in the future. However, Pan Qingchun also acknowledged that the industry still faces difficulties in the investment and production of raw materials. For example, it needs to import billions of dollars of leather products every year because the products are subject to strict environmental regulations. This is also a limiting factor for Vietnam's leather and footwear industry to improve the localization rate in recent years.