The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to obstruct trade activities of the leather and footwear industry in the main export markets of Vietnam, including Europe and the US. Last year, the whole industry exported US$19.5 billion, down 11.5 percent compared to 2019. Currently, Vietnam has controlled the pandemic, so many long-term orders have returned to enterprises. However, experts predict that the difficult situation will last until the end of this year.

Many garment processing enterprises for export in Ho Chi Minh City said that in the fourth quarter of this year, some orders, especially from the US market, have started to increase again. This is good news for the industry in the context that the Covid-19 pandemic still develops complicatedly in many traditional markets of Vietnam.

The Government has just promulgated regulations on selective foreign direct investment attraction for nearly three years, but Dong Nai Province has been ahead of the whole country in carrying out this policy for more than ten years. Therefore, the province’s FDI capital invested in the supporting industries is among the highest across the country and is considered as the capital of the supporting industries by many enterprises.

Many companies based in China, especially the heavily industrialized city Wuhan, had to close their production of raw materials since the nCoV, which raises fear among Vietnamese business owners of raw material shortage, and essentially messed up workflow and discontinued assembly lines.