HCM City Expo 2005: Increasing Competitiveness of Wood Enterprises

HCM City Expo 2005

Increasing Competitiveness of Wood Enterprises

The 2005 Ho Chi Minh City international wood and handicraft fair (Ho Chi Minh City Expo 2005) will be held from October 3rd to 7th, 2005 in Ho Chi Minh City by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Viettrade), the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Trade and the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Wood and Fine Art (HAWA). This activity is within the national major trade promotion programme in 2005 and annual fair receiving much attention from the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and the Ministry of Trade.

According a representative from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Trade, Ho Chi Minh City Expo 2005 is expected to have 800 pavilions, including 100 pavilions for foreign companies. Of the figure, 80 per cent will be allocated to pavilions exhibiting woodworks, wood, and designs. The remaining 20 per cent will be allocated to the exhibition of handicrafts.

Apart from exhibiting products, machines, equipment, materials for wood processing and handicraft manufacturing, the fair will include other activities, such as seminars on markets, designs and product samples on October 4th and 5th. The seminars will provide enterprises information about the export of woodworks and handicrafts. Also, training courses on the skills required for arranging exhibits and introducing goods will be held in August.

Truong Duc Quang, deputy head of the Department of Import and Export under the Ministry of Trade, said that six months’ woodwork export turnover of Vietnam reached US US$712 million. With this encouraging result, Vietnam may achieve its target of a woodwork export turnover of US US$1.4 billion, making a contribution to the completion of its yearly plan of an export value of US US$31.5 billion in 2005. However, Vietnam still faces difficulties as local manufacturers are still dependent on imported materials. To overcome these difficulties, Quang said Vietnamese manufacturers would diversify products by using locally-planted wood, including rubber trees. As planned from 2006, Vietnam will use 400,000 cubic metres of rubber trees for making exported goods.

According to the Ministry of Trade, in the previous years, Vietnam implemented subcontracts or exported wood products via foreign companies. Now, local manufacturers have become more active in their production and design. Quang went on to say that the Ministry of Trade has protected Vietnamese woodwork manufacturers from anti-dumping court cases. The ministry has also taken measures to help enterprises increase export turnover.

“Vietnam’s wood products have been diversified with interior furniture and open air wood items. Via the fair, Vietnamese enterprises will promote their co-operation to improve their competitiveness. Local enterprises have shifted from the manufacturing of low-end to high-end products,” Quang said.

Kim Phuong