July 5, 2014
HA NOI — Viet Nam footwear exporters are racing against time to complete the large number of orders they have received from traditional importers.
The growing orders have shown that the Viet Nam footwear industry has already started enjoying the numerous benefits that could accrue after the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
However, the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) has warned that if footwear exporters want to take full advantage of this opportunity they need to state what are the advantages in terms of the market and products. Not many local footwear makers can provide high-quality products with good designs as per the demands of TPP signatory nations.
Nguyen Quoc Tuan, General Director of HCM City-based Vinh Thong Footwear Company, said his company had received orders until October this year and had been running at full throttle to complete the orders on time.
This year, his company has set a target of manufacturing three million pairs of shoes and sandals to export to Europe. The company has now reached 90 per cent of its yearly plan.
Truong Thuy Lien, Director of Lien Phat footwear company told Dau Tu newspaper that her company had got orders till the year-end. Orders for this winter, from April to August alone, reached 800,000 pair of shoes.
She attributed the growing orders to the active impact of the impending TPP agreement, Viet Nam – EU Free Trade Agreement, Viet Nam and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
According to Lien in the future the Vietnamese footwear industry will enjoy numerous benefits from neighbouring countries. It has already led to global producers shifting their production units to Viet Nam from China.
Actually, importers from the EU, Japan and the United States (US) have started moving their orders to Viet Nam and looking for eligible footwear makers who meet with their requirements. When these agreements are officially signed, importers will quickly increase their orders.
Phan Chi Dung, Director of Light Industry Department of Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that Taiwanese and mainland Chinese businesses had poured their capital into Viet Nam to invest in developing raw material production locally. “If domestic producers do not take full advantage of this they will lose the opportunity,” he said.
Since Viet Nam is a member of the WTO, every policy for export will be strictly monitored by importers, according to Dung.
The State can assist them in training human resources, doing Research&Development, technology referral and addressing environment pollution in industrial zones.
Lefaso Deputy Chairman Diep Thanh Kiet said that to make good use of this opportunity, local exporters must be completely aware of the characteristics of each importer.
For instance, according to Kiet, local exporters have to focus on production capacity of more than 150 million pairs of shoes per year if they want to export to the US. In the EU market exporters have to pay more attention to differences in design between various regions of Europe. Meanwhile, the Japanese require very high-quality products.
(VNS)