product leather

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The Vietnam leather and footwear industry is young and only became an independent industry in 1987. However, for only short period of time from 1991 until now, it has been growing very fast to become one of the country’s leading industries for export.

The industry is capable of making 360 million pairs of shoes per year along with 22 million square feet of leather and nearly 30 million bags. It has created jobs for 300,000 people. Export earnings for 1999 of the whole industry is US $1.334 billion, an increase of 33.4% over 1998 value. This earning is the third highest from exports of Vietnam behind crude oil and textiles and garment. The whole industry is expected to earn US $1.6 billion from export this year, an increase of about US $300,000 over 1999. Vietnamese leather footwear is exported to 40 countries in the world including the United States (11.49%), the European Union countries (74.69%), Japan (8.37%) and the remainder to other countries.

The industry’s plan for the next 10 years was completed with export turnover expected to reach US $3.1 billion by 2005 and US $4.7 billion by 2010.

The Vietnam Leather Footwear Corporation is the biggest State-owned business of the industry, employing 24,500 people. It earned US $157 million from exports in 1999. It is capable of making 45 million pairs of shoes per year as of 1999. The corporation has 15 affiliates and one research institute.