Pou Sung Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Vietnam)

Pou Sung Vietnam Co., Ltd. is a member of the Pou Chen Group, a Taiwan-based Group mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of sports shoes and sports goods. Pou Chen Group, the largest branded athletic and casual footwear manufacturer in the world, is an OEM/ODM for major international brand name companies such as Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance, Timberland, and Salomon. Shares of Pou Chen Corp (the holding company) with code 9904 are currently listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange. Pou Sung Vietnam Co., Ltd. specializes in processing shoes of the Nike brand. Besides, the company also trades office stationery. Almost finished products are exported to USA and EU countries for consumption.  According to a staff of the subject, in early 2023, the number of orders is estimated to decrease by 30 - 35% compared to previous years. This situation lasts until the end of this year. Although there are few orders, the company limits working hours reduction and ensures welfare benefits, and maintains jobs for employees. However, the company cannot avoid the wave of labor cuts appearing in this industry. Until now, the number of employees has decreased to 18,000 people compared to 22,300 people at the beginning of this year. Currently, orders of the subject have not shown signs of recovery.In early 2023, according to the Vietnam Leather - Footwear - Handbag Association (LEFASO), the leather and footwear industry aimed to achieve an export turnover of USD 27 billion for the whole year, an increase of about 10% compared to the previous year.   However, from the end of 2022 to early 2023, the global economy was weakened, aggregate consumer demand declined, and inflation increased in developed countries, especially in countries that are Vietnam's main export markets such as the United States, the EU, China, etc. Along with that, maintaining tight monetary policy and high inventory levels caused import orders from these markets to decline, strongly affecting the import-export activities of many industries, including footwear.  Businesses faced a serious shortage of orders, up to 30-50% for traditional markets, especially the two markets accounting for 70% of Vietnam's leather and footwear export turnover, the United States and the EU decreased by 35% and 13% respectively. The figure of USD 27 billion in export turnover for the whole year of 2023 is clearly impossible in this context, when by the end of August the leather and footwear industry had not yet reached the USD 16 billion mark. However, according to the Vietnam Leather, Shoe, and Handbag Association in the last months of the year, the order situation of companies has improved, many partners have returned to placing orders. The reason for the recovery in signing orders is that long-standing inventories of brands have decreased and the market is preparing to enter the year-end shopping period.