Leading Vietnamese outdoor furniture maker Scansia Pacific Co. Ltd. has already this year shipped 9 containers of woodwork worth US$200,000 to the US and the EU.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based company’s outdoor furniture is made of materials imported mainly from the US, Brazil, New Zealand and Canada.
In business since 1991, Scansia was among the first licensed in Vietnam for furniture foreign investment. The Vietnamese-Norwegian joint venture began by selling teak and pine furniture and added tropical hardwoods in 1992 under its Scanviwood division.
According to the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Vietfores) wood chairs are popular in the US market, estimated to spend over $3 billion a year importing the item, generating an opportunity for Vietnam take an even bigger bite out of the robust market.
Vietnam’s wood product exports hit a record of almost $1.9 billion last year, a year-on-year jump of 24.5 per cent.
The US was the biggest consumer of Vietnam’s woodwork last year with total export revenue from the country reaching over $744 million, up 31.2 per cent on year and accounting for 38.55 per cent of Vietnam’s total.
The EU won second position, importing US$500.2 million worth of woodwork from Vietnam, up 9.47 per cent from 2005. Following is Japan, buying US$282.8 million of Vietnamese woodwork, a rise of 19.1 per cent against 2005 and accounting for nearly 15 per cent of Vietnam’s total woodwork export revenue.
Last year, Vietnam’s woodwork sector saw rapid growth in export revenue to many markets with Hungary up 137.7 per cent, Saudi Arabia up 106 per cent and Ireland, Russia, Canada up over 90 per cent.
In the first two months this year, Vietnam shipped US$404 million worth of woodwork abroad, up as much as 42.1 per cent from the same period of 2006. (Youth)
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