A workshop was launched in Hanoi on August 23 to help Vietnamese timber suppliers update with revisions of the Lacey Act of the U.S., which is currently Vietnam’s largest furniture importer.
Timber producers should join hands in fighting illegal logging to boost supplies and therefore profits, said Francis Donovan, mission director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) at the workshop.
The workshop, entitled Exporting in a Shifting Legal Landscape, discussed the needs of U.S. importers and the amended Lacey Act, which prohibits the import, sale or trade of illegally harvested wood and wood products into the U.S.
Ha Cong Tuan, deputy director of the Vietnam Directorate of Forestry, said Vietnam considered the U.S. a major market for wooden furniture.
“Supplementary articles to the Lacey Act provide challenges and also opportunities to better improve the management of forests, timber imports and processing, with the aim of sustaining and expanding Vietnam’s market share of the timber products in the U.S.,” Tuan said.
George White, head of the WWF's Global Forest&Trade Network, said Asian companies that exported timber products to the U.S. needed to fully understand their role in ensuring compliance with the revised regulations.
Statistics from the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association showed that Vietnam’s wood exporters have signed contracts totaling roughly $3 billion by end-2009, up $400 million on-year.
Vietnam has increased its forest coverage to 39.6% in 2009 from 34.3% in 2000. It is among the world’s top five in terms of increased forest coverage and top ten in terms of furniture exports.
The workshop was co-organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) with support from the USAID.
Two similar workshops will be held, in Quy Nhon of the central province of Binh Dinh, on August 25 and in Ho Chi Minh City on August 27. (VNA)
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