Today, the exhibition week of handicraft products and furniture in 2022 was organized by the City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) officially opened in Ho Chi Minh City.
The exhibition week takes place from July 19 to 25 in order to support businesses to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, stabilize production as well as find business partners and expand consumption markets.
According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, in 2021, despite the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the export turnover of wood and wood products still reached US$14.12 billion, up 17.6 percent compared to 2020.
Up to now, Vietnam has become the sixth largest exporter of wood and wood products in the world with more than 4.0 percent of the world market share in the furniture trade, ranking second in Asia and leading in Southeast Asia.
This is a fairly high growth rate in the context of many difficulties and challenges, making a significant contribution to the increase of the country's overall export turnover. Vietnam's wood products have been exhibited in more than 163 countries around the world, contributing to the country’s product promotion of national cultural identity to people globally.
No longer simply products that are simply shaped and rudimentary, Vietnam's handicrafts and wooden furniture products are increasingly interested in artistic design, manufacturing techniques, applicability, and quality. sustainability, as well as environmental and social issues. In particular, the issue of the origin and legality of the materials used, issues related to safety and health, and environmentally friendly clean production are particularly focused on.
Consumer tastes and trends are changing rapidly. Handicraft products and furniture using recycled and recycled materials are expected to be increasingly developed. This creates an opportunity but also a big challenge for production enterprises, cooperatives, and traditional craft villages in Vietnam when many small firms have old and backward production technology, the cost incurred in the re-production process must be higher and the designs do not meet requirements.
Mr. Tran Phu Lu, Deputy Director in charge of ITPC said that for Vietnam's handicraft and wooden furniture industry to strongly reach out to the world, businesses need to determine building a stable source of wood materials as the export strategy for the 2022 - 2025 period is to.
In addition to legally imported wood materials, the model of linking afforestation between wood processing enterprises and afforestation households must be expanded to build a stable and sustainable domestic source of raw materials as well as focus on renewing production equipment technology and training to improve workers' skills and improve product design and quality management capacity. Last but not least, firms must pay attention to environmental criteria and working conditions for employees.
Furthermore, businesses also need to step up trade promotion activities to link the global supply chain, with a focus on product groups with competitive advantages, increase product value, meet international standards, and meet many different market segments, which focus on the middle and high-end market segments.
