The volume of production orders for Vietnamese footwear in the year to date has increased 15-16% year-on-year, said Vietnam Leather & Footwear Association (Lefaso) vice chairman Diep Thanh Kiet.
"We're informed by several local footwear producers that they received a good volume of orders and big contracts," the vice chairman responded to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in HCMC on Wednesday.
Kiet explained that China is facing a shortage of workers in labor-intensive industries, including footwear production, causing some of its partners to move to Vietnam for footwear products.
"China's per capita income of US$3,000 improves their living conditions, so they want to have better jobs," he said.
Kiet added that the quality of Vietnamese footwear products is quite good while they are reasonably priced. Besides, the country is located near China, a source of cheap materials for footwear production.Vietnamese producers, however, face a lack of laborers.
The country's footwear producers mostly provide foreign companies with outsourcing services. They now can turn out 90% of shoe soles but have to import most of high quality leather.According to Lefaso, footwear exports fetched US$2.75 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 13.8% compared with the same period of last year. Exports to the US accounts for 25% of the total, reaching US$700 million.
