As per a Vietnam Plus report, export turnover of Vietnam’s footwear and handbags industry is expected to return to growth in the fourth quarter of this year during the year-end shopping rush in European and American countries.

A report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade estimates orders of businesses in the footwear industry to gradually recover from the third quarter of this year. Though some businesses in the leather and footwear sector have already secured new orders, the purchasing power of consumers is still weak as the main import markets for Vietnamese leather and footwear products are still being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After more than two months implementing the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), footwear has been added as a commodity in the list of Vietnam’s exports with positive changes. Leather footwear production is estimated to have increased by 5.3 per cent to 31 million pairs last month. It is estimated to have increased by 0.8 per cent year-on-year to 249.1 million pairs in the past 10 months of the year.

Footwear export turnover of all kinds in 10 months was estimated to have decreased by 9.9 per cent to $13.38 billion over the same period last year.