A customer examines leather shoes made by the Vina Shoes Corporation at a store in HCM City. Viet Nam has become the largest footwear exporter to Brazil with a turnover of $335.66 million last year. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Phan

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam has become the largest footwear exporter to Brazil, accounting for 52.8 per cent of that country's market share.

Viet Nam exported US$335.66 million worth of footwear to Brazil last year, the industry and trade's ministry's Industrial and Trade Information Centre said, beating Indonesia, China and Paraguay.

During the 2010-14 period, Viet Nam's footwear exports to Brazil recorded an annual growth of 26 per cent.

The country exported footwear worth $86.90 million to Brazil by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Viet Nam, Indonesia, China and Paraguay, besides Italy are among the major countries exporting footwear to Brazil.

The leather and footwear industries achieved a year-on-year increase of 24.8 per cent in output to touch 130.7 million pairs of footwear, and a 19.5 per cent rise in the export value of footwear to reach $4.6 million during the first five months of this year, the ministry said.

The sector is expected to earn $13.5 billion to $14 billion in export turnover this year.

The General Statistics Office said some 55.7 per cent of the footwear enterprises recorded a surge in export orders for the second quarter.

The Viet Nam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) said the advantages of the footwear sector at this moment were opportunities to draw export orders, particularly for large-scale businesses.

Vice Chairman of Lefaso Diep Thanh Kiet said many businesses have won contracts to export their products throughout the third quarter and even in the fourth quarter of this year. Their key markets include the United States, Japan, Australia and South America.

The ministry said garments and footwear are two sectors that are expected to receive many advantages from free-trade agreements (FTA) in the future.

Experts said the footwear sector would have many growth opportunities in the future because most the country's export markets have joined FTAs.

General Secretary of Lefaso Phan Thi Thanh Xuan said the impending FTAs and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would attract new investments to Viet Nam's leather and footwear industry.

The agreements would promote remarkable growth in export turnover in the coming years, as the ensuing reduction in tariff barriers would make it easier for Viet Nam to export to large markets, she said. — VNS