Footwear - one of Vietnam’s key hard currency earners in the European Union (EU) – looks to benefits it will reap from the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP) offered by the market in 2014-2016.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the European Commission has officially resumed GSP for Vietnamese footwear after ceasing it for five years.

The EU’s decision, which will become effective from January 1, 2014, will allow Vietnamese footwear to re-enjoy duty preferences in the EU market.

Vietnam is now the second largest footwear supplier to the EU market after China .

Among products sold to the EU market, footwear is Vietnam ’s second biggest hard currency earner, with 2.65 billion USD in 2012.

Last year, the country earned 7.26 billion USD from selling footwear abroad, which accounted for 6.3 percent of its total export revenue.