Major investors eye VN footwear industry   A worker at Hunex Company in Da Nang checks shoes. Several leading footwear brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma have shifted their orders to Vietnamese firms from manufacturers in China and Bangladesh. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Le Lam HA NOI (VNS)  - The domestic leather and footwear industry is seeing positive signs in the market. Several leading footwear manufacturers such as Nike, Adidas and Puma have given their orders to Vietnamese firms, instead of the manufacturers in China and Bangladesh. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai was quoted as saying by the online newspaper VnMedia.vn that most of the large local businesses in the sector have received orders from foreign countries for the first quarter of next year. Hai said the well-known brands wanted to expand their operations in Viet Nam to meet the increasing demand for their products and to reduce risks. The sector should promote production and trade, and improve their products' competitiveness to satisfy the manufacturers' requirements, he said. Viet Nam is among the top ten global footwear exporters and is the second largest footwear exporter to the demanding market in the US. Statistics from the ministry showed that in July, the footwear sector was stable as its output of leather shoes was estimated at 21.9 million pairs, representing a 10.4 per cent increase in comparison with July 2013. In the first seven months of this year, the sector's output was 150.4 million pairs, a 19.5 per cent increase over the same period last year. Its export turnover posted a 22 per cent year-on-year increase to touch US$5.75 billion. The item has been one of the country's staple exports. Estimates from the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) also revealed that the shift of production lines to the industry in the seven-month period was a 25 per cent year-on-year increase. Support industries Speaking about the interest of Japanese small-and-medium sized enterprises in investing in Viet Nam's support industries, especially automobile spare parts production, the deputy minister said Vietnamese businesses have not met the investors' requirements. He added that the ministry in co-operation with other ministries would submit a proposal to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to promulgate priority policies for the support industries in the period 2011-20. The proposal would allow specific items, sectors and measures to support the support industries. In addition, businesses should strive for long-term strategies and investment. Head of the Light Industry Department Phan Chi Dung said that to take advantage of the opportunities provided by free-trade agreements (FTA), many foreign investors are developing support industries for the footwear sector in Viet Nam. This will open up a brighter future for the industry. Foreign companies are speeding up their projects in Viet Nam to take advantage of the incentives that will come with FTAs and to increase profits once these trade pacts are signed, Dung added. - VNS