Hanoi (VNA) — Although the market has not fullyrecovered, footwear and handbags export turnover is expected t🐓o return to growth in thefourth quarter of this year during the year-end shopping rush in Euro൩pean andAmerican countries.

Areport from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said after a sharp decline inthe second quarter, orders of businesses in the footwear industry startedgradually recovering from the third quarter of this year. Somebusinesses in the leather and footwear sector have secured orders until the endof the year and started recruiting workers again. However,purchasing power is still weak as the main import markets for Vietnameseleather and footwear products are still being affected by the COVID-19pandemic. Therefore, importers are still cautious, resulting in smaller orders. Aftermore than two months implementing the EU-Việt Nam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA), footwear is a commodity in the list of Vietnam’s exportswith positive changes. Thetrade agreement will be a big driver for the growth of the footwear and handbagindustry in the remaining months of this year and the next. Leatherfootwear production is estimated at 31 million pairs last month, up 5.3 percentmonth-on-month and 11.8 percent year-on-year. Generally,leather footwear production is estimated at 249.1 million pairs in the past 10months of the year, up 0.8 percent year-on-year. Footwear export turnover ofall kinds in 10 months was estimated at 13.38 billion USD, down 9.9 percentover the same period last year. Thisyear has been particularly difficult for the Vietnamese textile andgarment industry with many complicated and unpredictable market fluctuations. Textilesand garments has been one of the industries with the greatest direct lossesfrom the pandemic, along with tourism, aviation, and footwear. Demandslowed due to COVID-19 when consumers around the world focused on essentialproducts and disease prevention. Facingthis situation, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises have switched tolabour protection products, knitwear and traditional shirts to maintainproduction and business activities. Textileenterprises need new measures to change the mode of production andbusiness to suit the new situation, and at the same time exploit and expand thedomestic market, according to experts. Expertsalso advised businesses to link with customers to form a production chain,meeting rules of origin as committed in free trade deals./.