HANOI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam earned over 17.9 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear, handbags and suitcases in 2017, up 10.7 percent from 2016, the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association said on Wednesday.

Specifically, the country gained roughly 14.7 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear, up 12.8 percent, and nearly 3.3 billion U.S. dollars from exporting handbags and suitcases, up 2 percent.

Last year, the United States was Vietnam's biggest footwear and handbag market with turnovers of more than 5.8 billion U.S. dollars, followed by the European Union - over 4.9 billion U.S. dollars, China - nearly 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, Germany - 1 billion U.S. dollars, and Japan - approximately 1 billion U.S. dollars.

Vietnamese footwear and handbags are now available in over 100 countries in the world, with 72 countries annually importing more than 1 million U.S. dollars worth of the products.

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 association.

Vietnam is expected to make footwear and handbag export turnovers of 19.5-20 billion U.S. dollars this year.

According to a plan for Vietnamese leather and footwear industry development until 2025, with a vision to 2035, the industry's annual production value will grow by 11.6 percent in the 2016-2020 period, nearly 8.9 percent in 2021-2025 and 6 percent in 2026-2035 period.