For the 2019-2020 season, the Binh Dinh Wood and Forest Products Association (FPA Binh Dinh) set a target of achieving an export value of 450 million USD, striving to build the "Binh Dinh Wood Products" brand…
Last year, overcoming difficulties and obstacles, for the first time, wood and forestry product enterprises in the province achieved an export value of 423 million USD. This provides a basis for FPA Binh Dinh to set a more ambitious goal for the 2019-2020 season.
Outstanding success
According to Mr. Vo Phi Hung, Deputy Director of Hoang Hung Co., Ltd., like many wood and forestry product businesses, the company has faced many difficulties recently, especially technical barriers imposed by importing countries, including the European Timber Regulation (EUTR), the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT), etc. However, thanks to consolidating and reorganizing the production line, improving product quality and expanding markets, the company's production and business activities have gradually stabilized and achieved positive results. According to statistics, in 2018 Hoang Hung achieved an export value of 11 million USD, an increase of 101% compared to 2017. Subsequently, in the first three months of 2019, Hoang Hung achieved an export value of over 4 million USD, an increase of 151% compared to the same period.
According to Mr. Nguyen Sy Hoe, Deputy General Director of Phu Tai Joint Stock Company, in 2018, overcoming difficulties and trade barriers, the company achieved revenue of VND 4,758 billion, an increase of 181% compared to the same period in 2017; profit reached VND 475 billion, an increase of 121%; and the dividend payout ratio reached 321%. Notably, in 2018, Phu Tai Company was included in the PROFIT 500 list – the Group of 500 enterprises with the best profits and the Group of 100 enterprises with good financial management capacity index on the Vietnamese stock exchange.
The 2018-2019 season was a challenging one, for example: Besides technical barriers to trade, wood and forestry businesses in the province also faced the impact of the US-China trade war, the decline of the global stock market, political instability in many EU countries, the UK's exit from the EU, and difficulties in obtaining high-quality, certified raw wood materials. Speaking about the efforts of wood and forestry businesses in Binh Dinh to overcome these difficulties, Mr. Le Minh Thien, Chairman of the Binh Dinh FPA Association, said: In this challenging context, wood and forestry businesses in the province have strived to reorganize their operations, modernize production lines, improve product quality according to international standards, shift their product structure towards furniture manufacturing, and improve designs…
As a result, in the 2018-2019 annual season, for the first time, the export value of the province's wood and forestry products reached 423 million USD, accounting for 531% of the province's total export value, with a growth rate of 6.21% compared to 2017. This growth momentum continued into the first three months of 2019, with the export value of the province's wood and forestry products reaching nearly 128 million USD, accounting for 591% of the province's total export value.
Building the brand "Binh Dinh Wooden Furniture"“
The wood and forestry products industry in Binh Dinh is aiming for sustainable development. Regarding this, Mr. Le Minh Thien stated: For the direction and tasks in 2019, the Binh Dinh FPA (Forestry Production Association) has set the goal of achieving a total export value of 450 million USD, an increase of 6.41% compared to 2018; of which wood products will reach approximately 315 million USD, an increase of 6.71%; achieving this target one year ahead of schedule compared to the Resolution of the 5th Congress of the Binh Dinh FPA.
Commenting on these targets, Mr. Nguyen Sy Hoe stated that achieving such results is not easy without fundamental solutions. According to Mr. Hoe, there are three solutions that wood and forestry businesses in Binh Dinh need to implement: 1- Equipping and replacing equipment and machinery, especially automated, multi-functional types; 2- Reorganizing production lines towards a streamlined and optimized approach; 3- Increasing the scale of factories by utilizing existing land and building additional floors (floor 1: warehouse, blanking; floor 2: machinery, refining; floor 3: cold assembly; floor 4: spray painting, packaging)... This model is both easy to manage and operate, and saves on infrastructure construction costs.
According to Mr. Le Minh Thien, FPA Binh Dinh has set out several key tasks and solutions, such as: developing industry policies and foreign relations; technology and training; market and trade promotion; promoting the transformation and development of indoor furniture production; improving efficiency in management and labor productivity… Accordingly, FPA Binh Dinh will focus on building the brand “Binh Dinh Furniture” with the goal of: promoting the image of a destination for “legal and sustainable Binh Dinh furniture”, and continuing to implement the Association-level Accountability System project on ensuring legal timber, funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations International Cooperation Program on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Deforestation Efforts (UN-REDD Vietnam). Initially, FPA Binh Dinh will participate in the provincial People's Committee's trade and investment promotion delegation to the United States, focusing on the “Binh Dinh Furniture, Vietnam – 2019” booth.
Written by Hien – Binh Dinh Newspaper
