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Woodwork industry thirsty for materials
The thirst for wood materials has become more serious than ever before as Vietnam has been relying on material imports while supply sources have become tighter.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the demand for wood material imports has been increasing sharply while sources of supply have been diminishing. Sources in Laos and Cambodia have become exhausted, while material prices in Malaysia, the main supplier for Vietnam, are increasing day by day.
Increased fuel prices have made it more expensive to ship wood materials from more distant markets. Meanwhile, a lot of export countries, like Russia, have increased export taxes on wood materials.
Experts say that prices of imported wood have increased by 40-100%.
In a recent workshop on woodwork exports, Nguyen Ton Quyen, Chairman of the Wood and Forestry Products Association, said that Vietnam needs to import 3mil cu m of wood materials a year, worth $1bil, from ASEAN countries, Africa, South America and North America. Vietnam’s woodwork industry has been relying on imports for 80% of its supply.
In general, enterprises begin conducting negotiations with foreign partners in the third and fourth quarters for imports of wood materials the following year. However, Tran Quoc Manh, Deputy Chairman of the HCM City Fine Arts and Woodwork Association, said that enterprises now do not have capital to import materials. The tightened monetary policies have kept woodwork enterprises from bank loans.
“As enterprises do not have money to import materials, the woodwork industry will have no material in 2009, which will certainly push enterprises against the wall,” Quyen said.
Dao Van Trang, General Director of Khai Vy, a big woodwork producer and exporter, once suggested buying forest in South America to provide materials for Vietnamese woodwork producers. However, he was not able to follow up on this idea because there was no regulation that allowed it.
“If we had been allowed to buy forest at that time, the value of the forest would have increased by ten-fold,” Trang said.
The serious shortage of wood materials has prompted Vietnamese producers to flock to Laos to engage in afforestation. Meanwhile, Trang believes that it would be better to develop local forests than afforest neighbouring countries. He said that the state should assign individuals or private run enterprises to develop forests.
Vo Truong Thanh, Chairman and General Director of Truong Thanh Woodwork Joint Stock Company, said that Truong Thanh plans to develop 100,000 ha of forest in 10 years, which would allow the company to control its material sources.
Thanh said that as of 2016, Truong Thanh will be able to supply 500,000-1mil cu m of wood per year, or 20-30% of the demand of the whole country at that time.
Truong Thanh has purchased 2,000 ha of 4-6 year-old forest in the Central Highlands and central region. It expects to be able to supply 50,000 cu m of wood/year in two years’ time, which will be provided for six of the company’s processing workshops.
VNN
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