Complications persist in footwear manufacturing

With more than 15,000 infections per day and a total of 1.4 million people infected by the pandemic in mid-December 2021, Vietnam is suffering from a severe health crisis, which is affecting all its activities and especially manufacturing. In the footwear industry, noted for its high volumes of exports, production is slowed down by social restriction measures and the absence of personnel, which are added to the reduced logistics and transportation services to make shipments abroad effective.

It is estimated that most of the Vietnamese footwear factories are operating with approximately 50% of their regular staff. According to LEFASO, the national association that brings together footwear and manufactures producers, more than 68% of exporting companies had to pay compensation for breach of contracts, while 21% have suffered definitive cancellations of their orders.