Taiwanese firms rush Vietnamese footwear sector

On July 25, Taiwanese-owned Chinli My Phuoc One Member Co., Ltd. held the ground-breaking ceremony of its $50 million shoe sole production factory in the southern province of Binh Duong’s My Phuoc 2 Industrial Park.

The factory covers an area of five hectares and is expected to come into operation in July 2017. It will supply a large volume of shoe soles for the province’s footwear sector and for export at the same time.

Recently, Vega Balls Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a leading producer of sports balls with production facilities located in Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, has been licensed to invest in the northern province of Quang Ninh. The 32,400 square metre factory is Vega Balls’ second project in Vietnam.

The first phase of the plant, representing a total investment of VND330 billion ($14.7 million), will be completed and put into operation in early 2017.

Along with a line of newly-registered projects, numerous Taiwanese enterprises who established a solid foothold in the Vietnamese footwear sector, plan to expand their operations as well.

Taiwanese Pou Chen Group, one of the world's largest footwear manufacturer and retailer, owns tens of footwear production subsidiaries in Vietnam, including PouYuen Vietnam Co., Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City, PouHung Vietnam Co., Ltd., Gia Chiu Co., Ltd. in Tay Ninh, and PouChen Vietnam Enterprise Ltd. in Dong Nai, among others. These companies have a total annual export revenue of $1.5 billion.

Pou Chen is expected to continue growing the scale of its production in Vietnam, to take advantage of the newly signed free trade agreements.

Since the beginning of 2016, Pou Sung Vietnam Co., Ltd., a Pou Chen subsidiary, has been recruiting thousands of workers, bringing the total number of its labourers in Vietnam to nearly 22,000.

Feng Tay, another Taiwanese firm, opened several factories in Vietnam, including Dona Standard Footwear Co., Ltd., Dong Phuong Dong Nai Vietnam Co., Ltd., and Vung Tau Orient Co., Ltd., collecting a total annual revenue of $500 million. Dong Phuong Dong Nai is expanding its manufacturing capacity through developing a 40,000 square metre factory, which is expected to be put into operation in 2016.