HCM City (VNA) – Experts gathered at the Vietnam wood and furnitureforum in Ho Chi Minh City on March 6 to discuss ways ahead for the sector whichis facing formidable challenges posed by global economic slowdown, widespreadinflation and conflicts.

Director of the Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Quang Bao said that wood and wooden products make upnearly 93% of Vietnam’s forestry value every year, and export of the goods havemaintained two-digit growth, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, enterprises have experienced a fall in orders as consumers havetightened their purse strings, he said, adding Vietnamese woodworks dependlargely on foreign markets but purchasing power from large buyers in China, theEU, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US decline sharply.

Bao held that major export markets’ strict regulations on product legality andsustainability, trade fraud, complicated trade competition and limited productioncapacity of domestic firms also put Vietnamese wood exporters in hot water.

Meanwhile, Giovanna Castellina, a representative from the Italian Centre forIndustrial Studies, said that global wood furniture market size is around 480billion USD, with China being the leading exporter, followed by the US, Italy,Germany, India and Vietnam.

Geopolitical tensions, conflicts and supply chain disruptions will affect thesector’s growth scenario this year, she said, adding the sector is forecast to gosideways and not grow in 2023, and will rebound in 2025.

She suggested Vietnamese firms diversify itsmarket instead of a single one to reduce risks, elaborating as three fourths ofVietnamese furniture are absorbed by the US market, export value fallsdramatically when demand from the market dwindles.

Sharing the same viewpoint, Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood IndustryAssociation of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) Nguyen Quoc Khanh said that althoughVietnam has been in the world’s top wood exporters, the country holds a smallmarket share.

Against this backdrop, businesses should outline measures to reach new andpotential markets, he added.

Despites short-term challenges, experts said wood enterprises should invest inR&D activities and create new designs to improve added values for theproducts with a view to expanding market share in the coming time.

Statistics of theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the sector’s exportturnover reached 14.39 USD billion last year, down 15.8% year-on-year.

This year, the sector targets 15 billion USD in export revenue./.