Shoes being manufactured at Huu Nghi Da Nang Joint Stock Company. The footwear industry is expected to reach a record export value of $8 billion this year. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Le Lam

The Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) said the average export value in the first nine months stood at about $675 million per month.

The record would be reached if this average value continues in the final months of the year, Lefaso said.

In the first nine months of this year, the industry earned over $6 billion from exports, a year-on-year increase of more than 15 per cent.

Meanwhile, the latest figures from the Viet Nam Customs showed that in the first half of October the industry exported nearly $310 million, pushing the total footwear export value since the beginning of this year to $6.31 billion.

During this time, exports were reported to rise in most import markets.

The US led the list with nearly $2 billion, surging by 17 per cent compared with the same time last year. This figure accounted for more than 32 per cent of total export value.

Following was the UK with $400 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.3 per cent.

The third biggest market was Germany with $297 million, a year-on-year surge of more than 8 per cent.

The other markets were Japan, Holland, China, Brazil and Spain.

Experts urged domestic companies to make more efforts to improve quality and productivity.

As the global economy has yet to recover, key markets for Vietnamese footwear have slumped, hence companies must plan accordingly.

This is especially important, they said, because foreign-direct investment companies have contributed more than 76 per cent of the industry's total export value.

Currently, about 1,100 enterprises are involved in footwear production in the country, employing 720,000 workers.

In addition, there are thousands of individual producers and handicraft villages that take part in export activities.

With this capacity, the Vietnamese footwear industry is expected to meet export demand. — VNS