Vietnam has become the largest footwear exporter to Brazil, accounting for 52.8 percent of that country's market share.

Vietnam exported 335.66 million USD worth of footwear to Brazil last year, the Industrial and Trade Information Centre said, beating Indonesia, China and Paraguay.

During the 2010-14 period, Vietnam's footwear exports to Brazil recorded an annual growth of 26 percent.

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

Vietnam, 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 percent in output to touch 130.7 million pairs of footwear, and a 19.5 percent rise in the export value of footwear to reach 4.6 million USD during the first five months of this year, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

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

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

The Vietnam 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 (FTAs) 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 Vietnam'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 Vietnam to export to large markets, she said.

VNA