Hanoi (VNA) – With 80 percent ofworkers returning to work in factories and abundant orders right from thebeginning of the year, the footwear sector has seen bright prospects for this year.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), in thefirst month of 2022, domestic firms exported 390.3 million worth of handbagsand umbrellas and over 1.93 billion USD worth of footwear products.

Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Leatherand Footwear Association (Lefaso), said that local firms have received enoughorders for the whole second quarter of 2022, which is a good condition for themto speed up production and regain growth pace after a long period of stagnation caused by COVID-19.

Right from the beginning of the year, many giant brands suchas Nike and Adidas have shown their interest to increase their output in Vietnam.

According to the Lefaso representative, Vietnam has becomethe biggest production hub for Nike by producing 50 percent of its products. Productionand export of Nike account for about 30 percent of the exportrevenue of the whole sector, and create jobs for about 300,000 labourers. It has also revealed its plan to expand operations in Vietnam.

Xuan held that the other reason making Vietnam attractive tobig players in footwear and sportswear industry is the good system of factoriesand competitive labour cost. Moreover, consumers in the US tend to like “made-in-Vietnam”products, she added.

However, experts held that it is not easy to grasp chancesto boost Vietnamese footwear exports in 2022 due to a high cost of material andlogistics services. Meanwhile, Government’s support packages have yet to showeffectiveness, while orders from large brands often have high qualitystandards.

In order to ease difficulties facing businessesduring the recovery process, Xuan said the Government, ministries and sectorsshould promptly implement the 350 trillion VND (15.38 billion USD) support package for economicrecovery and development and make it easier for businesses to access.

At the same time, it is necessary to review and adjustpolicies that hinder production and export activities such as exchange rate andtax, while issuing new policies to support businesses to make full use of freetrade agreements to increase exports, she said, stressing the need to improvethe quality of human resources.

Xuan also underlined the need to continue improvinglogistics infrastructure system, designing better strategies for materialdevelopment, attracting more investment to industrial parks, and researchingnew product designs and materials./.