Vietnam expects US$17 billion from leather, shoe exports

Nguyen DucThuan, Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) Chairman, said the chances of expanding export markets are good this year due to advantages from free trade agreements (FTAs) with the European Union (EU), the Republic of Korea and especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

The zero tax rate under the Vietnam-EU FTA and TPP, effective in 2018, will promote Vietnam’s exports in leather, footwear, bags, umbrellas and suitcases in the future, he said.

In addition, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently declared partially invalid an anti-dumping regulation on certain leather footwear imports to the EU from China and Vietnam.

It said that the Council of the EU and EU Commission did not comply with certain procedural rules when the regulation was adopted.

On October 5, 2006, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation imposing an anti-dumping duty on certain leather footwear imported from China and Vietnam to the EU with a rate of 16.5% for footwear manufactured by companies established in China (with the exception of the company Golden Step, whose anti-dumping duty was set at 9.7%), and at 10% for footwear manufactured by companies established in Vietnam.

The change to the anti-dumping tariff for Vietnamese footwear will support local footwear firms in reducing the current difficulties of production and business, he said.

Last year, Vietnam gained a high growth rate in export value from the leather and footwear industry at US$15 billion, an increase of 16% year-on-year, according to the association, including US$12 billion from footwear.

Ha Duy Hung, Chairman of the Dong Hung Industry Joint Stock Company, said the local leather and footwear industry has in the past developed key export markets in Europe, the United States and Japan, and they are expecting higher exports to those markets in the future as the FTAs generate interest, the Dau tu online outlet reported.

Now, Vietnam is one of four largest footwear producers in volume on the world market, after China, India and Brazil, and is also the third largest footwear exporter in value on the global market, after China and Italy. Domestic footwear products have been shipped to 50 countries and territories.