HCM City (VNA) – Wood processing and exportbusinesses of Vietnam hold many opportunities to expand market and increaseexport value in the time ahead, experts said at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh Cityon March 7.

Huynh Van Hanh, Vice Chairman of the Handicraftand Wood Industry Association of HCM City, said there is huge room for the woodprocessing and export sector of Vietnam to develop in the years to come.

Aside from the strong growth of the domesticproperty market, the global demand for furniture wood and the trade of wooditems this year are predicted to rise by 3.5 percent and 4 percent,respectively.

Helmut Merkel, Editor-in-chief of Germanmagazine MOBELMARKT, said the wood consumption demand is increasing, focusingon products with design and colour close to nature. The demand for wood kitchenutensils is also big, accounting for 28 percent of total wood demand inGermany.

However, he said, not many Germans have gainedinformation about furniture products of Vietnam. Vietnamese firms only have connectionwith distributors, and are yet to reach final customers in this market.

Juliane Lemcke, a wood industry expert of theSwiss Import Promotion Programme, said Vietnam’s wood sector has a number ofchances to expand its market as there are good signs from such major importersas the US and the EU. The US market has high demand for paper, wood furnitureand engineered wood. In the EU, the demand for wood and wood products is alsoon a stable upward trend thanks to economic recovery.

[2018 to be good year for wood products export]

She added due to environmental protectionpressure and limited material supply, the EU market tends to use more productsmade from engineered wood, a material which is relatively new in Vietnam buthas already been popular in many other countries as it has low costs and wideapplicability and reduces the dependence on natural wood materials.

Sharing the same view, Bjorn Henseler, an expertof Schuler group, said Vietnam is strong at processing solid wood, but manyother countries, especially developed ones, now prefer industrial andengineered wood. Even in Vietnam, the demand for furniture made from industrialwood is also dominating due to the boom of high-rises.

He said aside from tapping their strength,Vietnamese businesses should swiftly catch up with market trends to makeappropriate development strategies.

Juliane Lemcke said Vietnamese companies need topay more attention to product features and trading methods of import markets.They should also enhance applying technology in transactions and advertising toaccess more customers.

At the workshop, participants said to boost woodand wood product exports to 10 billion USD in 2020, Vietnamese businesses alsoneed to update technology, improve manpower quality and management capacity,build their own brands, promote product quality, and boost support services tocapitalise on opportunities.-VNA