[Vnbiz] Vietnam's furniture exporters running out of wood

[Craig Stevenson]

Hi:

If any out there are in need of wood, let me know quickly as I will be
returning abroad. I know a man with, as he says 500 years of wood.  He only
takes 50,000 bf a year (no more).  Nice and old stuff.  Black Walnut, Old
White Oak, Cherry.

Funny, in the US many people make fun of New Jersey.  They see it as an
industrial wasteland from trips between New York City and the Newark
International Airport.  But, more than 50% of New Jersey is comprised of
trees and forests.

Craig




On 6/11/07, Phan, Tai <Tai.Phan at ed.gov> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Vietnam's furniture exporters running out of wood
> Posted : Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:02:00GMT
> Author : DPA
> EarthTimes.org
> Environment News
>
>
>
> Hanoi - Vietnam's wood furniture exports are rising so fast that
> manufacturers are having a hard time finding enough wood to meet demand, a
> government official said Monday. The country's wood furniture exports have
> risen from 219 million dollars in 2000 to 1.9 billion dollars last year.
> This year, the government projects a further rise to 2.5 billion dollars.
> In 2006, Vietnam moved past Indonesia and Thailand to become the
> second-largest exporter in South-East Asia, behind only Malaysia.
>
> But the industry has long since outstripped the ability of Vietnam's
> forests to supply it with raw materials, said Doan Xuan Hoa, deputy director
> of the Forestry Product Processing Department in Vietnam's Agriculture
> Ministry.
>
> "Currently, the wood-processing industry must import up to 80 per cent of
> the materials needed for its production," Hoa said. "The industry may have
> difficulty developing in the future without securing domestic timber
> supplies as many countries are reducing their timber exports."
>
> With exports of sawn lumber from countries in the region like Indonesia
> and Malaysia dropping, Vietnamese manufacturers have been forced to turn
> farther afield. In 2006, Vietnam became a major importer of timber from
> Brazil.
>
> At a conference on sustainable forest industry development held Friday in
> Ho Chi Minh City, government officials and private forestry experts said
> Vietnam would need to invest heavily in developing its domestic forests if
> it expects to meet its ambitious targets for further growth in the wood
> furniture industry.
>
> The government foresees wood furniture exports more than doubling by 2010
> to more than 5.5 billion dollars. It wants to invest in reforestation
> projects to ensure that by 2020, 80 per cent of Vietnamese production comes
> from domestic sources.
>
> Such a change could dramatically improve Vietnam's balance of trade. In
> 2006, the country imported 1 billion dollars of timber.
>
> But most manufacturers in Vietnam are too small to undertake reforestation
> projects of their own. Bui Xuan Khu, deputy industry minister, told the
> conference that few Vietnamese manufacturers own more than 100 hectares of
> forest.
>
> The Agriculture Ministry's Hoa said that shifting to domestic wood
> supplies remained a long-term project.
>
> "Growing forests will take a long time, between 10 and 20 years," Hoa
> said. "For now, we must import timber and grow the forests at the same
> time."
>
> Copyright (c) 2007
>
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