Positive growth

The UK is a main market for the leather and footwear industry. Even when the UK was still in the EU, the proportion of the UK market accounted for 25 - 30%. When the UK left the EU, the Governments of Vietnam and the UK promptly signed the UKVFTA Agreement. Therefore, the footwear industry's exports to the UK market are not interrupted.

Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan - General Secretary of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) shared that in 2023, in the context of almost all export markets decreasing, some markets will decrease by up to 30%. % and the market decreased by 20%, but the UK market alone grew by 11%.

"With data from the first 10 months of the year, such growth has also helped the leather and footwear industry not decline too deeply in 2023" - Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan assessed and added, related to cooperation. Regarding import and export activities between the UK and Vietnam markets, currently one of the strengths that we still export to the UK market is also a major import market for footwear and almost no products. Made in the UK too.

In addition, the two sides also cooperate in evaluating standards and regulations and applying standards and regulations.

Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan said that the footwear industry has also cooperated with an organization SATRA - the UK's leading standards organization in developing standards as well as testing equipment to assess quality.

“Through this cooperation activity, we have supported small and medium-sized enterprises to improve product quality, especially exporting products such as safety shoes to the European market that are needed. There are certifications and certifications. This not only promotes exports to the UK market but also other markets around the world" - Ms. Xuan informed.

Strengthen cooperation and investment to enhance the value chain

The UK market is a traditional market for Vietnam's footwear exports and British customers are also quite familiar with this product. However, to have growth steps in the near future, according to Ms. Xuan, in addition to businesses from both sides taking advantage of the agreements, the businesses themselves must also have an investment with internal capacity.

“For export growth, large business sectors and conventional FDI enterprises dominate, but current small and medium enterprises taking advantage of those opportunities are still very limited. Therefore, small and medium enterprises need to take better steps to access this market" - Ms. Xuan noted.

The UK is a market with a lot of potential for exploitation. Although the UK has strengths in training in the field of leather and footwear industry such as fashion design training, marketing... however, Ms. Xuan said that Vietnamese businesses have not taken advantage of those advantages to improve their quality. high, upgrading the value chain.

“We not only work in the production segment, but we can also reach out to new technologies or the fashion design process. That is what we hope that after the agreements are implemented, that cooperation will be strengthened" - Ms. Xuan suggested.

In addition, businesses need to grasp information about advantages and incentives, including Vietnamese and British businesses, to be able to apply them for the highest efficiency.

In addition, the issue of supply chain traceability and origin traceability for raw materials will be increasingly raised. Surely the UK will also introduce similar policies to apply to the leather industry. shoe.

“How can we control the supply chain, meet the criteria and boost exports? This is also one of the upcoming tasks that the footwear industry, in collaboration with businesses, will have to have basic and long-term solutions. Besides, we also hope that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will support businesses in the leather and footwear industry to provide information and solutions to build and develop sources of raw materials, both in production and trade, so that we can have a good supply. Sustainable and proactive auxiliary materials in the production and export process" - Ms. Xuan expressed.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Ngo Chung Khanh - Deputy Director of the Multilateral Policy Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that in order to take advantage of the frameworks and agreements that the UK and Vietnam have will cooperate in the near future, businesses need to pay more attention to the UK. If you look at the proportion of the UK market, Vietnam's total import and export is only 1.5 - 1.6%, very modest compared to the potential of both countries. This proportion is not growing, meaning we have growth in exports but the total also increases. So the proportion of the UK market did not increase and it even decreased.

“This shows that many of our businesses still do not pay attention to the UK market even though Vietnam has UKVFTA, has very good relations with the UK and this is still a traditional market. Therefore, businesses need to focus more on the UK and improve technology" - Mr. Ngo Chung Khanh noted./.

Minh Toan