According to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), 10 years ago, the localization rate of leather and footwear products was only 40%, now the average has increased to 55%. In particular, there are items such as sports shoes that can be 70 - 80% active, fabric shoes that can be made from almost 100% domestic materials.
In fact, the entire industry has 129 enterprises investing in the production of raw materials and accessories, but only about 20 domestic enterprises are capable of supplying high-quality raw materials, making it difficult for leather and shoe manufacturers to own them. Manage orders and raw materials.
With the advantage of competitive prices, convenient transportation, diverse types and quality, China is still the largest source of raw materials for Vietnam's leather and footwear industry, with about 35%; followed by Thailand with 11.8%; Italy 10.3%... In addition, domestic footwear enterprises also import leather from the US, Korea and other markets, but the proportion of each market is not high.
Regarding the above issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Standing Vice Chairman of the City Leather and Footwear Association. Ho Chi Minh - said that supporting industry in the leather and footwear industry has been mentioned for many years but has not achieved the expectations of the State, businesses, manufacturers... and needs a long-term roadmap.
Many experts say that Vietnam's leather and footwear industry is facing great opportunities from free trade agreements, but whether it can take advantage or not requires developing domestic supporting industries and raw materials.
At this time, a large amount of raw materials for the leather and footwear industry still have to be imported. Notably, leather and footwear raw materials are only focused on average and average product lines, the rest still have to be imported, causing the added value of the industry to not be high. Every year, some businesses still have to import accessories such as leather, technical fabrics, mold accessories, soles, plastics, glue, chemicals...
