Wood industry exports before

The plywood along with 12 other items has just been "warned red" because coinciding with Chinese products subject to US anti-dumping tax, it poses a significant risk to the export wood industry.

Opportunities have many

According to a report of the General Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), there are 5,424 enterprises processing wood and forest products, including 612 enterprises with foreign direct investment (FDI). ).

In the first 7 months of 2019, Vietnam exported timber and forest products to more than 128 countries and territories with a turnover of US $ 6.05 billion, up 17.9% over the same period in 2018. In particular, The US, Japan, China, EU and South Korea are the main export markets, reaching US $ 5.3 billion, accounting for 87.7% of the export value of forest products.

Regarding the import market, Vietnam imported from 96 countries and territories with import turnover of nearly US $ 1.46 billion, up 15.3% over the same period of 2018. In particular, China and the US , Chile, Cameroon, Thailand are 5 markets with large import value of Vietnam, reaching 757.6 million USD, accounting for 52% of import value, especially wood and industrial boards, because this is a trend. Current major consumption.

Talking to the reporter, Mr. Wei Thanh Vi, Head of Communications Department of An Cuong Wood Joint Stock Company, said that the Vietnamese wooden furniture market currently has a great potential for development, especially the US trade war. - Trung. If we can make good use of it in the right direction, this will be a great opportunity for the Vietnamese wood industry to make great progress.

According to the judgment of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri, Director General of Vietnam Administration of Forestry, Vietnam has many opportunities to receive FDI flows away from China, because we have the advantages of a clear policy mechanism, cheap labor, convenient transportation system, deep sea port.

In addition, since the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) on the implementation of the Law on Forestry, forest governance and forest product trade (VPA / FLEGT) came into effect on June 1 In 2019, wood and wood products trade activities are promoted, facilitating businesses to export forest products to the EU as well as other markets.

Under these advantages, according to Mr. Ha Cong Tuan, Permanent Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the export target of 11 billion USD in 2019 that the Government has set for the wood and forestry industry is possible. exam.

But no less risk
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, there are currently a number of businesses cheating on the origin of goods, causing negative effects on Vietnam's plywood production.

In fact, plywood exports to the US saw a phenomenal growth, up 270% in 2018 (compared to US $ 51.4 million in 2017). In the first 3 months of 2019, exports of this item reached US $ 46.7 million, up 95% over the same period.

Recently, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ministry of Industry and Trade) has released a list of 13 products at risk of being subjected to trade remedies or anti-tax investigations by major markets such as the US, Europe and Canada. . In particular, plywood warning level 4 is the highest level.

According to a report of Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in the first 6 months of 2019, the total number of FDI projects registered to invest in the wood processing industry was 44 projects, of which China had to 29 projects, accounting for 66%.

It is worth mentioning that, although the number of Chinese enterprises investing in Vietnam's timber industry has increased sharply, the amount of investment capital is quite small. Accordingly, the total investment capital of 44 projects is 135.7 million USD, an average of 3 million USD / project; in which, the average investment in a project of Chinese enterprises is 2.4 million USD / project, and of other countries is 4.3 million USD / project.

According to Mr. Tri, although taking advantage of opportunities from the US-China trade war, the timber industry may face some difficulties such as quality control of FDI projects, the risk of receiving Small-scale projects, outdated technology, do not meet the environmental requirements.

In particular, the growing trade deficit between the US and Vietnam in the timber industry can lead to the US government imposing fair trade policies, affecting Vietnam's export wood processing industry.

“This will be very dangerous, causing great damage to the wood industry if the US government considers the fraud of Vietnam's goods origin is serious and from then there are similar sanctions policies of Vietnam's timber industry. like steel industry in recent years, ”said Tri.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Ton Quyen, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Association of Wood and Forest Products, said plywood is a suspected commodity of commercial fraud when exporting to the US, because of the export figures. Vietnam's plywood to the US increased suddenly.

Mr. Tuan said that the wood industry enterprises must be very careful before these challenges. It is necessary to properly implement policies, strictly control the granting of paper, and avoid commercial fraud. At the same time, promptly detect and notify the state management agencies to handle commercial frauds.

More emphasis, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong requested, it is necessary to carefully review the growth of finished products, perceptions to take measures to coordinate, not to seek profiteering and counterfeiting. Origin.

Talking to reporters, a representative of a large wooden furniture business in Vietnam said that at present, many goods have been floating into Vietnam. Meanwhile, it is difficult to identify the poor quality of floating goods, because the designs of plywood and industrial wood are the same and only the construction units specializing in carpentry can recognize them.

With these products, when manufacturing or assembling, they are prone to warping and compression. Even some products also have very high levels of inhalation, unpleasant shock smell that poses a hazardous risk to the user.

“Therefore, when the authorities promote checking the origin, the origin of wood products in general will make the market more transparent. Big businesses, truly doing business will benefit,” the representative emphasized.

In addition to the above challenges, another difficulty, according to representatives of associations and enterprises processing wood and wood products, is the procedure of asking for and granting land to expand the scale of afforestation, production, as well as the purchasing of raw materials, which is purchased by traders to export to foreign countries as raw materials.

Partly because many countries in the region have had policies to tighten the sources of forest materials, especially Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, China ... leading to the shortage of raw materials.