[NEWS] - Removing difficulties, creating momentum for the wood industry to breakthrough

Along with trade promotion, in the coming time, wood industry businesses need to invest in products, green transformation, and digital transformation, thereby creating a competitive advantage.

Soon joining the "club" of export products with a turnover of 10 billion USD or more, the wood industry has become one of the key export industries. However, the wood industry is currently facing many difficulties and challenges. Sharing at the discussion on Economic growth solutions at the end of 2023 - early 2024 organized by the Laborer Newspaper on the morning of November 3, Mr. Nguyen Chanh Phuong - Vice President and General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Wood Processing Association. Ho Chi Minh City (Hawa) said that by October 2023, the wood industry would export about 10.8 billion USD, down 19.9% over the same period. Although there is still negative growth, the downward momentum has narrowed.

Accordingly, from July until now, the industry’s growth in the following months has increased faster than the previous month, and in October this year, it has reached the same period, showing a good sign. According to calculations, by the end of this year, growth will still decrease compared to last year, there cannot be a breakthrough.

Also according to Mr. Phuong, the wood industry has experienced continuous growth for 10-15 years with annual growth reaching 10-15%. However, after this period of growth, Vietnamese wood businesses began to enter the safe zone of exporting but producing domestically, waiting for international buyers to arrive. When orders are scarce, Vietnamese businesses only promote but do not have new products. But the next generation in the wood industry has no new bright spots, not many, no big movements.

Besides, the proportion of Vietnamese businesses participating in fairs is still limited. The number of Vietnamese businesses participating in the fair is more than 60%, and foreign businesses also come to buy but the absolute number is not many, only about 220 businesses.

The reason is that domestic enterprises do outsourcing so there are not many products to introduce. Therefore, in the coming time, businesses need to invest in products, green transformation, and digital transformation, thereby creating a competitive advantage.

Regarding green transformation, according to Mr. Phuong, the wood industry is doing quite well when there is a research team working with businesses on traceability but it lacks industry experts. "Therefore, we went directly to the fairs and found that we needed to find groups of experts who knew the domestic wood industry to find solutions," Mr. Phuong expressed.

To overcome the difficulties of the wood industry, Mr. Phuong said that strengthening trade promotion plays an important role. In fact, from the first year of 2023 until now, in the difficult context of declining orders, Hawa has stepped up support for member businesses and is currently continuing to organize promotional events, and commercials... for businesses.

According to the plan, in the coming time, to proactively promote the market, Hawa will structure its organization into industry and product groups; will cooperate with 5 associations, and choose a spearhead for trade promotion, focusing on woodworking and handicraft industry groups...

At the same time, encourage businesses to promote green transformation, digital transformation, and export, not only manufacturing but also software, design, or e-commerce issues; Encourage startups to participate.

Through the above information, we can grasp the advantages and difficulties in overcoming difficulties and creating momentum for Vietnam’s wood industry to make a breakthrough. Indochina Holdings operates in the fields of investment and trade promotion. As a commercial bridge between the Vietnamese business community and developed businesses worldwide, we will accompany and bring the products of small and medium-sized enterprises to export successfully.

Hoang Yen (Collection source)