A lot of challenges are awaiting Vietnam’s handicraft industry when the country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) late this year, said Do Nhu Dinh, the Deputy Minister of Trade.
The deputy minister pointed out five fundamental problems facing the domestic handicraft industry in the international integration process.
The first issue is the lack of a consistent supply of input material. Limited domestic exploitation has forced Vietnam to heavily rely on material imports at the moment. Although there is an abundant supply of local materials like rattan, bamboo, clay and sedge in Vietnam, these are not always available in a concentrated area.
The processing method, such as for rattan and bamboo, is out-of-date, thus affecting the durability and quality of products.
The small-scale production is another problem hindering domestic handicraft makers from making contact with potential foreign customers and having access to the Internet to undertake e-commerce.
Fourthly, most workers in the sector have yet to undergo professional training, so the designs they create are unattractive and monotonous in the eyes of foreign customers.
Meanwhile, almost all Vietnamese enterprises, including handicraft producers, have not yet paid due attention to establishing their own trademarks and prestige in the world market.
According to the government’s export orientation strategy, Vietnam will fetch US$1.5 billion from exports of handicrafts by 2010, attaining an annual growth of 20 per cent.
To reach the target, Vietnam must promptly work out an effective marketing and exporting program for its handicraft industry, Dinh said.
In the same move, the Ministry of Trade’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) is coordinating with the International Trade Center (ITC) to implement Project VIE/61/94 aimed to support trade promotion and export development.
Funded by the Swiss and Swedish governments and executed from 2004 to 2007, the project assists Vietnam to achieve export growth targets set for the decade.
For this purpose, the project will help Vietrade develop a national export strategy and strengthen its capacity as the focal point for a national trade development network.
At present, the EU and the US are now the biggest importers of Vietnamese handicrafts.
The Europe Department of the Ministry of Trade says that handicraft shipments to the European market have in recent years grown remarkably. Vietnamese handicrafts account for one-tenth of European’s import needs behind China and Thailand.
Germany, France and the Netherlands are among the key European importers of Vietnamese handicrafts.
The sector has also successfully entered new markets like Africa and Southwest Asia, with shipments there growing steadily, since they do not have high demands for design and quality.
Le Ba Ngoc, director of the Vietnam craft villages development project, says local handicraft producers will need to make a difference to compete with rivals from China and Thailand. They should look for orders or sales channels that suit their small capacity.
There are more than 2,000 craft villages nationwide and 1,200 handicraft enterprises and co-operatives employing around 1.4 million people, mostly from rural areas.
Vietnam’s handicraft export sales in the first half of the year grew 13 per cent from a year earlier to US$308 million, making it possible to achieve the year’s target of US$660 million, up 16 per cent. Economists say the exports of traditional Vietnamese handicrafts have brought both social and economic benefits.
Actually, the sector has earned higher added value and generated more jobs for people living in rural parts of the country where farmland is shrinking due to fast urbanization.
Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
