HCMCity (VNA) - Nguyen Chien Thang, Director of HCM City-based woodproducts maker Scansia Pacific, said his company has export orders for thewhole year, which are 25 percent up from 2017.

“Theorders are from existing buyers. There are many new buyers who want to placeorders with us, but we dare not take them because we are afraid we cannotfulfil them.

“Currentlywe are focused on buying more machines to ensure production for export,” hesaid. 

HuynhVan Hanh, Permanent Vice Chairman ofthe Handicraft and Wood Industry Association ofHCM City (Hawa), told a press briefing to introduce the VietnamInternational Furniture and Home Accessories Fair 2018 (VIFA-EXPO 2018): “We are very optimistic about the market situation thisyear since most enterprises have export orders for until middle of the year andsome have orders for until the end of this year like Cam Ha in Da Nangand Scansia Pacific.

“We fully believe that the target of earning 8.66 billion USD fromexports of wood and wooden products is easy to achieve.”

Exports of wood and wooden products have increased by12.3 percent a year on average for the past seven years, reaching 7.66 billion USD last year, he said.

Globalfurniture demand was worth more than 428 billion USD last year. Trade infurniture amounted to 141 billion USD last year, with China being the largestexporter, accounting for 35 percent, followed by Germany, Italy, Poland,and Vietnam.

Butamong the main furniture production areas, only the Asia-Pacific saw positiveproduction growth.

With reasonable economic growth, global furniture consumption and trade areforecast to grow by 3.5 percent and 4.1 percent thisyear, Hanh said.

Exportsfrom Vietnam accounted for only 6 percent of the figure, meaningthere is considerable scope for Vietnamese firms to increase their marketshare, he said.

To capitalise on the demand, woodworking firms need to invest more in upgradingtheir production technologies and embrace automation toimprove productivity, ensure consistent quality and resolve their labourshortage problem, he said.

Besides, they need to improve their design capacity to add more value to theirproducts and improve their management skills, he said.

He also suggested that firms should pay more attention to the middle high-endsegment and be developing multi-functional products for the US and EU markets.

Talking about raw materials, he said he has no worries about any timbershortage.

He said forests grown on public lands and rubber and fruit trees provide50 percent of the timber needed for the industry and the rest isimported from many countries with clear origins.

The industry needs to access markets on a national scale so that foreigncustomers know “Vietnam is a nation producing wood products from legal timbersources,” he said.-VNA