Workshop Seeking to Develop Woodwork Industry Opens

Hundreds of woodwork processing companies in Vietnam gathered at a workshop March 18 to seek for solutions to their development amid the global downturn.

 

At the workshop co-organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Vietnam Forest and Forestry Products Association (VIFORES), participants admitted the downturn is affecting Vietnam woodwork industry, with a number of contracts have been cancelled and exports decreased sharply.

 

“Vietnam woodwork export market will be narrowed in 2009. Particularly, export to the U.S., EU and Japan, the biggest importers of Vietnamese woodwork, will drop 30 per cent-35 per cent,” said General Secretary of the association, Nguyen Ton Quyen.

 

Currently, the country has around 600,000 cubic meters of wood in stock and they are unlikely to be turned into products as local companies have not yet found any new contracts.

 

The companies said Government’s supports like trade promotion, subsidized loans and corporate income tax extension have not helped them much.

 

Many companies have shifted to domestic market to rescue themselves.

 

The VIFORES said local woodwork industry is likely not to fulfill its target at US$3 billion in export revenue this year.

 

In the first two months, the industry raked in only US$327 million from woodwork exports, down nearly 27 per cent on year.

 

The industry’s import of wood material also decreased 56 per cent against the same period of last year to only US$84 million. (Vietnam Economic Times, Labor)