HANOI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam made footwear export turnovers of more than 7.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, witnessing a year-on-year rise of 14.3 percent, according to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association on Tuesday.

Between January and May, largest importers of Vietnam's footwear products included the United States, the European Union, China and Japan, said the association.

The country also earned roughly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars from exporting handbags, wallets, suitcases, hats and umbrellas in the period, up 9.2 percent.

In 2018, Vietnam reaped 16.3 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear and roughly 3.4 billion U.S. dollars from handbag export, witnessing respective year-on-year increases of 11 percent and 3.2 percent.

Forecasting that foreign-invested firms will boost production in 2019, the association expected the total export turnovers of footwear and handbag to expand by 11 percent in the year. Enditem