Unit of Shoemaker That Supplies Adidas, Reebok Sees Delays After 6% Workers Quit
Unit of Shoemaker That Supplies Adidas, Reebok Sees Delays After 6% Workers Quit
(Bloomberg) -- Pouyuen Vietnam, a unit of one of the world’s largest makers of athletic shoes, is struggling to meet orders after 6% of its workforce quit amid the nation’s worst Covid-19 virus outbreak, according to a post on the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Party Committee’s website.
The company, a subsidiary of Pou Chen Corp. that makes shoes for brands such as Adidas AG, Reebok International Ltd and Converse Inc. in Ho Chi Minh City, is seeing exports affected by production delays, according to the post, which cited Lu Chi Yuan, the unit’s director, during a visit to the plant by the city’s Party Chief Nguyen Van Nen on Tuesday. A representative of Pouyuen Vietnam confirmed the report.
The production problems come more than a month after the nation’s commercial hub and surrounding industrial provinces began lifting tough lockdowns that led to factory closures and other restrictions.
The American Apparel & Footwear Association, which represents more than 1,000 brands, is urging the Biden administration to step up vaccine donations to Vietnam after the U.S. has given the Southeast Asian country more than 15 million doses that reach “barely 5% of the population,” Stephen Lamar, the group’s president and CEO, said in an email. Vietnam is the second-largest supplier of apparel, footwear, and travel goods to the U.S. after China, he said.
Thirty-one percent of Vietnam’s population is fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry.
The U.S. has committed more than $30.2 million in COVID-19 related assistance to the country since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the website of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. Vietnam is a “leading recipient” of donated U.S. vaccine doses, the embassy said in an Oct. 25 statement.
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