The wood industry is leveraging every advantage to achieve its goal in 2022
The wood industry is leveraging every advantage to achieve its goal in 2022
2022 is a year full of changes, from global politics to economic fluctuations that affect trade activities and import-export, especially the wood processing and exporting industry.
This makes wood processing and exporting enterprises have to carefully plan each step in the final months of 2022 to achieve the set targets.
Finding opportunities in niche products
The global inflation situation is strong in the third quarter of 2022, negatively affecting orders for the last months of the year for the wood industry, putting wood processing and exporting enterprises in a situation of having to secure each order.
However, with the efforts of businesses, the wood industry has gradually approached the set target since the beginning of the year 2022.
According to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the export turnover of wood and wood products in 2022 is estimated to reach $15.8 billion, of which the export turnover of wood products is estimated to reach $10.92 billion, an increase of 6.7% compared to 2021.
To achieve that export number, businesses have had to make use of each type of waste product from the wood industry, alternating each order to avoid congested goods.
While the export of wooden furniture and wood products decreased, the export of wood chips and wood pellets increased sharply, with Vietnam mainly exporting wood pellets to South Korea, Japan and Europe, while wood chips are exported to the Chinese market. China buys wood chips as raw materials for producing paper packaging and wood pellets.
Information from businesses that make use of wood waste products shows that China is still a large market for Vietnam's wood by-products.
If there were many businesses supplying wood chips waste to the Chinese market, such as Australia, Brazil, and Vietnam, in the economic turbulence period, only Vietnam is the supplier.
According to the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association, there are about 300 wood pellet production facilities across the country for export to Japan, South Korea and Europe.
Currently, the world's purchasing power is growing very fast as fossil fuel, the most basic raw material, is becoming more expensive and scarce.
So far, the trend of closing nuclear power plants and coal-fired power plants emitting CO2 is increasing, then environmentally friendly materials such as wood pellets have a large market.
Breaking through profits amidst difficulties
Despite the decrease in demand for wood and wood products in the global market due to inflation, consumers limit the replacement of furniture that has been used for several years to balance expenses for food, health, and medical needs, which has affected the Vietnamese wood industry.
However, the fluctuations in domestic raw material sources also force companies to make do in order to maintain production.
Due to the shortage of raw materials, importers' inventory psychology is affected, creating opportunities for many wood industry businesses to overcome difficulties.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam produces over 160 million tons of by-products from agricultural production each year, including by-products from the wood industry, which are a significant level of commodity production. For many countries around the world, this is a resource and an important input for many fields, creating a circular and sustainable economy.
Mr. Do Van Hai, Director of Hoi An Lam Export-Import Production Limited Company, shared: "Thanks to the production and export of wood chips and wood pellets, our business can survive. If we only export lumber, we may not be able to withstand the current difficult economic situation, especially with the current high interest rate fluctuations in banks."
Therefore, to remain resilient and profitable and maintain production, regardless of any product, companies need to invest in quality, even in selling wood industry by-products. With quality, businesses can assert their credibility in the market, gain trustworthy customers, and achieve sustainable development.
