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| Building a brand for Vietnamese wood and bringing higher value to wooden and furniture products is a "problem" that businesses in the industry need to face. (Source: Industry and Trade Newspaper) |
In addition to meeting the average domestic consumption demand of about 3-4 billion USD/year, the Vietnamese wood industry exports an average of over 10 billion USD each year, making Vietnam the 5th country in the world, 2nd in Asia, and 1st in Southeast Asia in exporting wood and wood products.
Currently, the export market of Vietnamese wooden furniture has been expanded from 60 countries and territories in 2008 to over 120 countries and territories in 2022; from exporting raw products to products with beautiful designs and rich varieties.
Despite having a solid position in the domestic market, strong Vietnamese furniture and interior brands such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai Wood Joint Stock Company (Gia Lai), An Cuong Wood Joint Stock Company (Binh Duong), Thuan An Wood Joint Stock Company (Binh Duong)… have not been able to make their mark in the international market as most of them have to “borrow” the brand names of foreign enterprises when exporting to foreign markets.
Most of Vietnam's wood products have only won the trust of foreign wholesalers and agents and are almost "unknown" to international consumers.
According to the General Department of Forestry, the reason for this situation is that the policy on developing the brand of the wood processing industry has not been implemented. Meanwhile, Vietnamese wood and wood products enterprises do not have experience, do not have enough resources in terms of capital, human resources, and management skills to develop a sales system abroad, and do not have the foundation to build a brand. Developing the market abroad requires large-scale production capacity, and few Vietnamese enterprises can meet this requirement.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Processing Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), Chairman of the Board of Directors of AA Company, it is time for Vietnamese enterprises to change their mindset of making money through diligence in production, taking labor as profit, but need to build their own brand.
Building a brand will help businesses develop their vision, direction, increase their customer base, easily access international markets and optimize profits. The brand itself will increase commercial value, not only contributing to increasing export turnover and domestic wholesale value but also positioning the Vietnamese furniture industry on the world map. By building their own brand, businesses will contribute to creating a brand for the Vietnamese wood industry.
At the workshop "Bringing Vietnamese fashion, furniture and household products into foreign distribution systems" recently organized by the Department of European-American Markets (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Mr. Nguyen Chanh Phuong, Vice President and General Secretary of HAWA emphasized that Vietnam is the center of wood product production for the world; has advantages in a complete and sustainable supply chain in terms of policies, people, and raw material supply.
However, to promote the export of Vietnamese wooden furniture and interior products more effectively, it is necessary to form a logistics center - promoting the trade of Vietnamese furniture. In terms of market, businesses need to break away from traditional markets, aiming at markets with good purchasing power such as Canada, UK, Japan, Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, etc.
At the same time, the wood and furniture industry also needs to actively expand online exports and project exports. Promoting national furniture brands at international furniture fairs is a strategy that Vietnamese businesses need to focus on to effectively promote trade.
Assessing the challenges of Vietnam's wood industry, Mr. Eryk Dolinski, Director of Wood Products Business Development, IKEA Group's Supply Department in Southeast Asia, said that Vietnam's wood processing and furniture industry is still highly labor-intensive, and the main source of raw materials is still in small-scale farms with difficult to trace origins. Long geographical distances create additional costs and transportation time from warehouses in Vietnam to other countries.
To solve the above problems, Mr. Eryk Dolinski said that the wood and furniture industry needs to focus on investing in automation to increase production efficiency and product quality. "Automation is not only in the factory but also in the entire supply chain to meet the increasing demands of the market. At the same time, it is necessary to create a better working environment and reduce carbon emissions; increase efficiency in certifying wood origin. Optimizing the supply chain from raw material transportation, sawmills to production and transportation stages must be focused on to maximize savings on raw materials, energy, and logistics costs," Mr. Eryk Dolinski suggested.
Mr. Do Manh Quyen, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Houston (USA) informed that the US has always been the largest consumer market for wooden furniture exports from Vietnam. In 2021, Vietnam's wood and wood product exports to the US reached over 8.77 billion USD, accounting for 59.24% of the country's total wood and wood product export turnover. In 2022, wood and wood product exports to the US reached over 8.48 billion USD, accounting for 54.1% of Vietnam's wood and wood product export value to all markets.
Mr. Quyen said that the consumer tastes for wooden furniture in the US market are changing, but it seems that Vietnamese enterprises have not yet grasped the situation in order to change production direction to meet market demand. Wooden furniture exports are preparing to enter a period of fiercer competition, with the burden of origin and quarantine, Vietnam needs to have a different approach in exporting wood and wooden products. In addition, enterprises need to invest more in production to have a green, clean production process, reducing emissions to keep up with the increasing demands from buyers.
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