Carpentry villages in Nghe An struggle to find outlets for their products.

Clip: Van Truong

Adapt to find product output

While many household wooden products have been "frozen" and difficult to sell in recent times, in the carpentry village of Da Son commune, Do Luong district, craftsmen have adapted themselves, creating wooden products that the market needs.

Mr. Tran Manh Dung's carpentry workshop in Hamlet 1, Da Son Commune, Do Luong District has switched to making furniture for churches, which is quite popular. Photo: Van Truong

Present at the carpentry production facility of Mr. Tran Manh Dung's family, we saw that this facility was operating quite busily. Mr. Dung shared: Realizing that in recent years, the demand for interior decoration for family churches, such as incense tables, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences... is quite high, while Nghe An has few carpentry establishments specializing in this profession, most of which have to go to the northern provinces to buy at very expensive costs. My family has switched from making civil carpentry to investing in machinery, specifically self-producing 12 CNC wood carving machines for the work of making worshiping objects; recruiting skilled workers; purchasing jackfruit wood from all over to make church interiors. Thanks to the good quality of the products, combined with reasonable prices, customers have the opportunity to come to the workshop to check the quality of the "raw" wood, so customers are very confident. The carpentry workshop continuously receives orders that cannot be finished. Each month, the facility has a revenue of 500-670 million VND from selling products.

Mr. Tran Manh Dung in Hamlet 1, Da Son Commune, Do Luong District is operating an automatic carving machine. Photo: Van Truong

At Mr. Tran Quoc Hung's carpentry workshop, products such as cabinets, beds, tables, chairs... have been difficult to sell for a long time, so in recent years he has researched the market and switched to making wall and ceiling panels. Mr. Hung always maintains a team of 5-7 ceiling workers throughout Nghe An province and neighboring provinces.

He confided: Making ceilings has the advantage of requiring little investment in machinery, easy-to-find mahogany materials, and lighter work than making other items. Especially, there is no end to the work, currently, the team is undertaking 2 ceilings in Hue, with monthly revenue reaching 150-200 million VND.

Mr. Tran Quoc Toan - Vice Chairman of Da Son Commune People's Committee added: Carpentry is a traditional profession that has long been associated with the people here. Currently, there are nearly 100 households following this profession, creating jobs for 300-350 workers. In recent years, due to difficulties in the output of wooden products, many households in the craft village have managed to adapt to find markets. For example, currently, the number of people making tables, chairs, beds and cabinets has been reduced, but they are focusing on the production of wooden furniture for family temples, walls, ceilings, walls, etc.

According to It is estimated that the carpentry village's revenue this year will reach over 50 billion VND, down about 20% compared to last year, but in such difficult conditions it is a success.

Some civil carpentry establishments have switched to making wall and ceiling panels to find a market. Photo: Van Truong

Next to Da Son commune is Nguyen Nghia carpentry facility in Do Luong town, which is operating quite busily. According to the owner of this facility, since the beginning of 2023, the wooden furniture market has been in a difficult situation, with many products being unsold. To adapt to difficult conditions, the unit is currently limiting the production of display items and mainly producing wooden furniture products according to orders.

Especially exploiting new markets such as manufacturing wooden furniture for villas; building wooden houses in all provinces and cities; window frames, main doors... At this time, the unit is receiving orders for manufacturing and installing furniture for villas in Phu Quoc. Thanks to finding outlets for the products, Nguyen Nghia carpentry facility still creates jobs for over 200 workers, with total revenue reaching over 2 billion VND/month.

Nguyen Nghia carpentry facility in Do Luong town produces wooden products according to orders, so at this time it still maintains stable jobs for over 200 workers. Photo: Van Truong

Learn and innovate to overcome difficulties

Due to difficulties in output, the carpentry village in Quang Phong ward, Thai Hoa town is currently having to find solutions for its products. Some carpentry owners in Quang Phong ward said: “Currently, civil and fine art carpentry is facing great competition from craft villages in the northern provinces. Therefore, I had to proactively send workers to learn new techniques, especially techniques for using wood carving machines. Then, I invested in buying machines to put into production. The application of technology to the craft has helped make carpentry products more sophisticated, and labor productivity is higher, thereby contributing to reducing product costs to compete with products from northern craft villages.”

Discussing the issue of finding solutions to develop the carpentry village, Mr. Nguyen Canh Kieu - Chairman of Quang Phong Ward People's Committee added: Quang Phong Ward's fine art carpentry village for processing forest products was recognized as a Craft Village by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on December 30, 2002. Up to now, the craft village has over 180 participating households, with production and business activities mainly including the following items: tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, and household carpentry.

Nguyen Nghia carpentry workshop, Do Luong town, is looking for orders to build wooden houses in Nghe An. Photo: Van Truong

Currently, in the difficult period of output, about 35% of households have switched to producing other products suitable for the market, such as receiving orders for wooden floors, processing plywood for walls, etc. The remaining household wooden products are being consumed slowly and have a lot of inventory.

The traditional carpentry village in Quynh Hung commune (Quynh Luu) has been in a slump for a long time. Currently, the craft village has a lot of unsold goods, and at this time, carpentry production facilities are promoting their products on social networks. In particular, customers who come to buy household carpentry products are delivered free of charge to their homes...

Wooden furniture sales have been slow in recent times in craft villages in Nghe An. Photo: Van Truong

Nghe An has many carpentry villages in Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Quynh Luu, and Nam Dan districts, creating jobs for thousands of local workers. However, due to difficulties in output, the carpentry industry has stagnated since the beginning of 2023.

According to experts, for the carpentry industry to develop stably, local authorities with carpentry villages must work with businesses, production facilities and households to promote solutions to find outlets for their products. Guide craft villages to survey, analyze and grasp market demand, not to make mass-produced household wooden products difficult to consume, and to create products that meet customer requirements.

Craft villages maintain production, create jobs for workers, coordinate with fair organizers; at the same time, mobilize businesses and production facilities to participate in displaying, selling, and introducing carpentry products at fairs in and outside the province. Invest in skills, machinery and equipment to create beautiful, low-cost, competitive carpentry products in the market, gradually overcoming difficulties.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/cac-lang-nghe-moc-o-nghe-an-xoay-xo-tim-dau-ra-cho-san-pham-post279716.html