(Bloomberg) -- Nike Inc.'s Vietnamese subcontractors have resumed production and the company plans to increase its reliance on the Southeast Asian country to make its shoes with more investments, according to a report on the Vietnam government's website.
Production has restarted in the nearly 200 Vietnam factories that make Nike products after disruptions from Covid-19 outbreaks, the government website reported, citing Nike's Chief Sustainability Officer Noel Kinder during a Tuesday meeting with Vietnam's Premier Pham Minh Chinh in Scotland.
Representatives for Nike were not immediately available for comment.
Vietnam's footwear factories, which make shoes for global brands such as Adidas AG and Puma SE, are expected to be fully operational early next year after strict anti-virus restrictions led to temporary plant closures and workers returning to home rural provinces, Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, vice chairwoman of the Vietnam Leather Footwear and Handbag Association, said last week.
Factories in Vietnam's southern industrial belt of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces, as well as in Ho Chi Minh City, have reported 70%-80% of their workers have returned, she said.
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Pouyuen Vietnam, a unit of one of the world's largest makers of athletic shoes, Pou Chen Corp., said 70% of its workforce has returned to work, according to a post on the website of Ho Chi Minh City's media center, citing Cu Phat Nghiep, the company's labor union head. A Pouyuen Vietnam representative confirmed the city's report but declined to comment further.
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