Vietnam

Vietnamese footwear exports to the European Union will be getting a boost as E.U. officials say they are cutting the tariff on Vietnamese footwear from between 13% and 14% to between 3% and 4%. The move is in line with the current European Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which is in effect until 2016. In an effort to take full advantage of the program, Vietnamese officials are urging footwear producers to draft long-term plans for using domestically-produced raw materials and to diversify their production lines to include higher-value products. Currently, nearly one-third of Vietnamese footwear exports are bound for Europe. Fibre2Fashion