Binh Duong (VNA) – Wood processing and export businessesin the southern province of Binh Duong have been making every effort toovercome difficulties facing the industry.

Statistics showed that the province raked in 1.5 billion USD from exporting woodand wooden products in the first four months of 2023, down 38.5% year-on-year.

In the context that major export markets of Vietnam such as theUS and Europe have large inventories, and purchasing power has decreasedsharply, Vietnamese wood exporters have continued to face negative growth.

Recently, Truong Thanh Wood Industries JSC reported that its revenueand profit in the first quarter of 2023 reached 331 billion VND (over 14million USD) and 1.8 billion VND respectively, down 38% and 90% compared to thesame period last year.

In 2023, the company plans to increase the capacity of allfactories in Binh Duong. It is improving production processes at all stages to stopactivities that do not add value to customers but increase production chaincosts.

Meanwhile, Thuan An Wood Processing JSC said it is focusing onseeking orders, proactively negotiating with customers toreduce product prices, and minimising costs to create products with competitiveprices.

Chairman of the Binh Duong Furniture Association NguyenLiem attributed the situation to the decrease in domestic and international orders,and the inferior trade promotion of the wood industry.

Many businesses have strived to maintain operations without profits with the hope of overcoming this difficult period, he said.

However, the export picture of the province’s wood industry is forecastto be brighter by the end of 2023.

Nguyen Thanh Toan, Director of the provincial Department ofIndustry and Trade, said the local authorities are concentrating on solutions toexpand export markets, including seeking orders from India, Europe, China,and the Middle East, and other regions.

The department and relevant sectors have workedhard on supporting the business community in effectively harnessing benefitsfrom relevant free trade agreements, he added.

Toan advised businesses to proactively learn about information,mechanisms and policies; conduct market research; and pay attention to improvingand controlling the quality of products to satisfy requirements and regulationsof import markets.

Enterprises need to coordinate with trade promotion organisationsto develop plans to take the advantage of opportunities from FTAs, thus further boostingtheir exports, he stressed.

Binh Duong has the largest concentrated export wood industryin the country. The province set a goal to lift its wood export turnover to 9-10billion USD by 2025 and 12-13 billion USD by 2030. To that end, Binh Duong willbuild nine industrial clusters specialised in wood processing with an area of70-75 ha each./.