Vietnam made footwear export turnovers of nearly 11.8 billion U.S. dollars between January and September, witnessing a year-on-year rise of 10.5 percent, its Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Tuesday.

The country is expected to make footwear and handbag export turnovers of 19.5-20 billion U.S. dollars this year. The local products are now available in over 100 countries in the world.

However, footwear and handbag producers in Vietnam currently face four challenges, namely high labor cost, difficulty in applying automation, return of protectionism in many countries, and fiercer competition with firms in foreign countries, especially Myanmar and Bangladesh, said the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association.

Last year, Vietnam shipped abroad more than 1 billion pairs of shoes and sandals totaling nearly 14.7 billion U.S. dollars, of which roughly 11.8 billion U.S. dollars came from foreign-invested enterprises.

By the end of last year, Vietnam had 863 footwear exporters, and several small and medium enterprises which produced footwear for the domestic market.

Vietnamese people annually consume some 150 million pairs of shoes and sandals, but only 40 percent is met by local enterprises, according to a recent survey by the association.