3 groups of radical solutions, ensuring raw materials for wood industry

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How do you assess the current supply of wood raw materials for the processing industry and timber export?

According to the data summarized by the General Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and Vietnam Rubber Association: The domestic timber supply in 2015-2018 is respectively: 22,729,270 m3; 24,410,155 m3; 25,699,393 m3 and 27.5 million m3 of timber. Regarding import, according to the data summarized by the General Department of Customs (Ministry of Finance), General Department of Forestry, the volume of imported wood in the period 2015-2018 is respectively: 8,281,786 m3; 7,288,764 m3; 8,468,432 m3 and 9,725,364 m3 of timber.

Based on the above data, it can be seen that domestic timber sources have gradually replaced imported wood with a growing volume. Currently, imported timber for export wood products accounts for less than 30%. In which, domestic wood supply for export wood processing accounts for over 70%.

Export markets are increasingly demanding strict requirements for quality and timber origin. In your opinion, what difficulties and bottlenecks exist in managing the supply of importing raw wood?

First, import wood must be ensured as 100% clean wood. The main markets of Vietnam importing raw materials include: Countries with high regulatory compliant materials such as the United States, Chile, New Zealand, EU countries, and from high-risk countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Africa... Therefore, the selection of wood markets imported with 100% clean wood is a challenge for enterprises. In order to have a 100% clean wood supply, the cost of wood materials will increase in the structure of 1 m3 of wood products.

Besides, there are too many organizations and individuals importing wood (over 2,500 units). Importing large volumes of wood from many different countries and by many different ways leads to the competition of buying, selling and pressing prices. In order to remove this, it is necessary to build preliminary splitting clusters in raw material areas and large-scale concentrated wood distribution centers in regions nationwide.

Besides imports, where are the bottlenecks in the management and supply of wood materials in the country, sir?

Currently, the domestic supply of wood has gradually met domestic consumption demand as well as export. However, at present in the domestic supply chain of wood materials, except rubber tree wood and home garden wood, the remaining plantation timber is mainly of small diameter, low productivity and low quality. The volume of timber is large but the quantity used for processing wooden products and outdoor furniture is very small. These bottlenecks reduce the added value, product quality and less competitive for the use of domestic plantation timber.

With specific analysis it is easy to see that for rubber tree wood, the exploitation output is limited. The area of rubber trees has shrunk to about 1 million ha, shrinking by about 15,000 ha each year. Therefore, the amount of rubber tree wood supplied only meets no more than 5 million m3 / year. For acacia timber: Some acacia varieties are in danger of decreasing in productivity and quality because the seed source is in the process of being degraded due to the supply of seedlings that do not meet the quality standards, which significantly affects the goal of improving productivity and quality of planted forests.

In addition, it must be said that the policy of converting small business forests into large timber plantations has been issued and is a proper policy, however, the implementation is still very limited. In particular, there is a lack of technical guidelines to convert large timber trees, lack of investment capital according to long-term and more risky business cycles.

In your opinion, what is the fundamental and effective solution to help develop and supply sustainable wood materials for the wood processing industry in the coming time?

Solutions focus on 3 basic groups. Expanding plantation area, improving forest productivity with higher quality timber trees, and effective and sustainable use of wood materials.

Regarding the expansion of afforestation area, wood processing enterprises are eager to invest in afforestation to stabilize the material source. For example, Hao Hung Company wants to invest in 100,000 ha, and companies like Nafoco, Woodlands, Scansia pacific... all expect to have an investment plan of 30-50 thousand hectares of plantation for each company, but there is no suitable land.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are 3 types of land that can expand the area of plantation forest including: Poor natural forest land; land that is outside the planning of 3 types of forests, and land allocated to people. Through an actual survey, at present, it is only possible to expand the forest from the area of planted forest on the land allocated to the people in the form of a link between a wood processing enterprise and a forest owner who is a household and a forest planting cooperative. In fact, many such models have been operating effectively. Governments in many provinces such as Ha Giang, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang and Thanh Hoa,... have paid attention to and actually managed and supported these linkage models. Households and people have initially changed their perceptions and awareness of afforestation, and participating in the linkage model is more beneficial than doing it alone. However, it is necessary to have specific mechanisms and policies to implement this linkage model effectively and sustainably. Provincial People's Committees need to have a list of land types, how many types of land and land area, what kind of land is it for? On that basis, build a master plan and call for investment attraction.

Regarding the improvement of productivity and quality of planted forests, to ensure the quantity and quality of timber for the wood processing industry, it is necessary to research on varieties and technical methods for forest intensification to increase forest productivity and quality. Planting needs to meet the requirements of wood processing technology and consumer tastes. In addition to acacia and rubber trees, fat, and bodhi trees that are supplying raw materials for the processing industry, it is necessary to study to add some new plant species to meet market demands, such as peach trees, yellow flower glue, teak tree...

Wood industry remains sustainable growth VCN- The abundant orders together with the positive forecasts in the key markets are showing positive signs ...

Regarding the effective and sustainable use of wood materials: It is necessary to renew old and obsolete technologies with advanced, environmentally friendly technologies, saving raw materials, fuel and energy; to build large-scale preliminary processing clusters in concentrated growing areas; conduct the construction of wood trading centers in 3 regions of North, Central and South...