On the morning of October 11, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade coordinated with the local Department of Industry and Trade (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the Department of Industry and Trade of provinces and cities to organize a conference to connect supply and demand of input materials for the handicraft industry with the northern provinces and cities in 2024.
Demand increases but supply does not increase
According to the latest survey data of the Center for Industrial Promotion and Industrial Development Consulting (Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade), on average, Hanoi's bamboo and rattan craft villages consume about 6,800 tons of various raw materials per year, of which, on average, a business consumes about 50 tons of raw materials/month, a household consumes about 20 tons of raw materials/month; ceramic craft villages consume about 620,000 tons of raw materials, mainly clay and kaolin; lacquer craft villages about 4,000 tons; wood craft villages about over 1,000,000m3 of wood.
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Raw materials play an important role in the sustainable development of craft villages. However, Mr. Vuong Dinh Thanh - Deputy Director of the Hanoi Center for Industrial Promotion and Development Consulting - said that in reality, the source of raw materials for handicraft production such as rattan, reed, bamboo, wood, sedge, kaolin, horn, etc. in Vietnam is in great shortage due to the narrowing of raw material areas, while the number of products produced for domestic consumption and export demand is increasing. In particular, wood materials are the group that must be imported the most because enterprises producing wooden products for export are seriously lacking domestic raw materials.
The dependence of raw materials for production in craft villages in Hanoi on external sources makes it difficult for production households to take the initiative. In recent years, a number of provinces and cities have been planning raw material areas. However, these plans have not yet identified specific raw material areas. The plans are only implemented for each province and each locality separately without linking the regional scale to maximize regional advantages across the country.
Sharing about this difficulty, artisan Nguyen Van Trung - Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan weaving village (Phu Nghia commune, Chuong My district) - said that currently, the raw materials of bamboo and rattan in Hanoi only meet 20% of the market's demand for raw materials. Therefore, businesses have sought out raw material areas to organize purchasing, provide technical guidance on exploitation and processing, and preserve the supply of raw materials to ensure the production process.
Another difficulty, said Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, is that the two-way information connection between producers and suppliers of input materials is still limited, leading to supply not meeting demand, thus leading to difficulties in production and consumption for both sides. With the scarcity of raw materials, the cost of raw materials increases, increasing the cost of production, causing difficulties for businesses and producers.
Similarly, this situation also occurs in many localities. Previously, speaking with a reporter from the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Le Ba Ngoc - General Secretary of the Vietnam Handicraft Export Association - said that raw materials are increasingly scarce and raw material prices are increasing rapidly while the export price of handicrafts is difficult to increase. For example, in the ceramic industry, the price of clay has increased by over 90% in the past 5 years, the price of kaolin has also increased by 75%...
Connectivity is not enough
Hanoi is considered the "land of hundreds of professions" and has a very high demand for raw materials, while, due to the characteristics of the capital, the production area is limited, so basic materials must be imported from other localities.
According to the Action Plan to implement the Strategy for Import and Export of Goods by 2030, Hanoi city aims to have 6 to 10 groups of handicraft products from Hanoi craft villages exported directly to foreign markets; at the same time, increase the proportion of handicraft exports to 3-5% of the city's export proportion.
In order for the handicraft industry to develop sustainably and achieve the goals set out in the Action Plan for implementing the city's import-export strategy until 2030, in addition to product development and trade promotion, the development of sustainable raw material areas is a decisive issue.
Making recommendations on this, handicraft expert Vu Huy Thieu said that in the context of raw material sources for handicraft production in Vietnam, there is a serious shortage due to the narrowing of raw material areas, while the number of products produced for domestic consumption and export demand is increasing. Meanwhile, Laos has great potential in developing raw material areas due to its large, concentrated land fund, which is very convenient for large-scale agricultural and industrial production.
To overcome the shortage of raw materials, experts also said that functional agencies and levels need to improve policies on land and raw material areas such as encouraging enterprises, cooperatives, and individuals to lease land and accumulate land to develop concentrated raw material areas to serve production; orienting the development of concentrated and stable raw material areas to supply raw materials for craft villages; closely coordinating with state management agencies on the development of Hanoi's craft villages to cooperate in providing input materials for craft villages, creating a chain of links for product development and consumption...
Source: https://congthuong.vn/ha-noi-ket-noi-cung-cau-nguyen-lieu-dau-vao-nganh-thu-cong-my-nghe-351673.html
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