HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s export value for leather and footwear gained stable growth every year during the 2011-16 period to reach US$57.5 billion in total.

Under statistics from the General Department of Customs, export value reached $6.5 billion in 2011, $7.3 billion in 2012, $8.4 billion in 2013, $10.3 billion in 2014, $12 billion in 2015 and $13 billion in 2016.

The statistics revealed that during these year, the cycle of footwear exports usually witnessed growth in the second quarter and reached the highest level in the third quarter. In 2016, average export value of the products reached $1.08 billion per month.

The US has been the leading footwear export market of Việt Nam, accounting for 30 per cent of the industry’s total export value. Footwear export value made up 11 per cent of Việt Nam’s total export value to the US.

In 2016, the US was the largest footwear export market of Việt Nam with turnover of $4.48 billion, up by 10 per cent against the previous year. The second place went to the Chinese market with export value of $904.9 million, followed by Belgium with a value of $825.4 million, Germany with $764.7 million and Japan with $674.9 million. In terms of region, the EU was the largest footwear export market of Việt Nam. Footwear exports from Việt Nam to the EU are expected to increase further after the signing of the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement.

Việt Nam’s footwear industry has a long development history and is one of the industries with export advantages, contributing significantly to the national economy.

In 1992, the industry began to export footwear products, earning $5 million. So far, the industry’s exports have contributed 10 per cent to the national gross domestic product, vneconomy.vn reported.

The Việt Nam Leather and Footwear Association said in terms of export volume, Việt Nam is one of the top four countries exporting footwear in the world, following China, India and Brazil. The nation has had the second largest export value of footwear in the world, after China. Việt Nam’s footwear products were shipped to 50 countries and territories.

However, Việt Nam’s export footwear products have almost been processed under foreign fashion brands’ orders and the domestic footwear industry has weaknesses in design and material supply, the association said.

Despite contributing tens of billions of dollars to the national export value, the industry has not received enough investment for development to match its potential in exports, it said. — VNS