Economic slump helped Vietnam furniture industry: trade officialLocal producers have improved their product quality during the slump and are now capable of expanding their market, Bien said at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vietnam International Furniture & Home Accessories Fair in Ho Chi Minh City.Nguyen Chien Thang, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s Handicraft and Wood Industry Association, said Vietnam has become the leading furniture producer in Southeast Asia, shipping its products to more than 120 countries and territories. Vietnam’s furniture industry has more advantages in terms of labor and designs compared with those of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, Thang said. Vietnam’s wood product exports rose 60 percent in the first two months this year to US$617 million as orders increased amidst a recovering global economy, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Vietnam International Furniture & Home Accessories Fair at District 7’s Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center will run through March 14. Source: Thanh Nien |
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Furniture exports up but timber shortage a worryFurniture exports have grown by more than 49 percent to US$1.9 billion this year, pushing Vietnam to the top of the heap in Asia, but a serious timber shortage could yet stymie the growth.The Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Vietfores) said exports had made their way to 80 foreign markets and there was great potential for wood processors to further step up shipments. It added that the US imported wooden furniture worth over $3 billion annually, providing an opportunity for Vietnamese processors to increase exports to that market. Furniture ranks among Vietnam’s top ten export commodities, ranking fifth behind crude oil, textiles, footwear, and seafood. The Ministry of Trade hopes export of furniture will reach $5.5 billion by 2010 and that Vietnam could over-take China in exports to the U.S. The country has 464 chair exporters, 400 Vietnamese-owned and the rest foreign-invested. No timber However, all this trade depends on finding timber, of which there is a serious shortage. Following a ban on logging and timber exports in neigh-boring countries, wood prices have soared 30-40 percent in the last three years. Domestic sources meet a mere 20 percent of Vietnam’s timber demand, with the rest imported from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines at high cost. In the last two years, Southeast Asia’s two largest exporters, Indonesia and Malaysia, have stopped exporting sawn lumber. As a result, several Vietnamese companies have been having trouble sourcing timber. Last year the furniture industry had to import more than $1 billion worth timber, machinery and accessories. Many furniture firms have begun to look for timber from elsewhere in the world. Leading outdoor furniture maker Scansia Pacific Co. Ltd. has signed a $200,000 deal to ship nine containers of outdoor furniture to the US and the EU. The Ho Chi Minh City-based company uses wood imported mainly from the U.S., Brazil, New Zealand, and Canada. To capitalize on the timber short-age, import-export firm Sadaco has signed a deal with Canada’s leading timber supplier Canfor. The government also plans to grow 2.5 million hectares of forest, which will supply about ten million cubic meters of raw wood by 2020. Vietfores has given top priority to setting up three wood “exchanges” that will import timber to improve the situation. One each will be based in the country’s southern, central, and northern regions. It has urged producers to work together to handle large export orders they may not be able to handle individually. Vietfores said the whole industry would benefit from this kind of cooperation. An Indian petrol pump attendant waits for customers at a station in New Delhi Reported by Hoang Uy |