In the first 6 months of 2017, according to the HCM City Leather and Footwear Association, Vietnam's footwear exports recorded the lowest growth in 10 years. The main reason is that the economy of some importing countries is facing difficulties. In addition, due to objective factors such as stable foreign exchange rates, high interest expenses, increase in minimum wage,... create a growth in products price, which loses competitiveness to cheap goods in new low-cost countries.

In particular, the shortage of orders is happening quite common in many shoe production establishments, the order volume of many leather and footwear enterprises is only 70% compared with the same period last year. Thus, our footwear exports this year is forecasted to reach $25-26 billion, up only 5% over 2016.

Many businesses say they have enough orders until the end of the year, while the order situation in next year still have to wait. New businesses only have a few orders made by patrons, but not enough to produce new orders. However, it is difficult to find new customers at this time, because not only are customers scarce, they also have to spend more time to get to know about the company and come to a contract agreement. Only large enterprises and FDI enterprises have enough orders, while small and medium enterprises are facing many difficulties when orders both in the country and export are scarce.

With the export of leather and footwear mainly to Europe while the European economy is less prosperous, so customers not only order fewer but also there is a lots inventory. This situation leads to many customers refusing to pay for the contract, making it more difficult for Vietnamese enterprises. However, in the mood of anxiety, businesses still have to try to find solutions.

Meanwhile, local businesses face to a new worry: orders are being attracted by FDI enterprises. With large financial resources, these companies build factories with modern technology, large scale, causing the pressure on Vietnamese enterprises. However, this pressure is becoming a driving force to pull domestic businesses up. Accordingly, domestic firms can learn from experience, force themselves to find the direction to compete if they do not want to be knocked out of the market. Moreover, domestic firms can find opportunities to cooperate and participate in the supply chain of FDI enterprises to obtain more orders from the domestic market. Along with the wait and efforts to improve competitiveness, many businesses have to find ways to link together to produce large orders.

In addition, there are many ideas that it should not be expanded the business at the end of the supply chain but  ả the beginning of supply chain such as production of auxiliary materials to reduce competitive pressure, form the link chain and reduce costs, thereby supporting export and import activities to eliminate worries about lack of contracts as today.