Made-in-Vietnam timber and wood products have faced obstacles inaccessing foreign markets due to stricter foreign laws, which requiretimber products to be granted Forest Stewardship Council certification,said Hua Duc Nhi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification proves wood products arefrom certified sources of origin throughout the supply chain, andguarantees that timber used has been supplied through responsiblyharvested and verified sources.
Only legally harvestedtimber and wooden products are allowed to be imported to Europeanmarkets, as regulated by the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement,Governance and Trade.
The US Lacey Act also bans the import, export and transport of illegally-exploited forest products into the US market.
To meet the foreign export requirements, Vietnam has targeted that30 percent of the total production forest area will meet FSCcertification in 2020.
"However, to date, only 0.36 percent, equal to 16,500ha has been certified," Nhi said.
"No practical solutions to expand the certified area have been discussed nor implemented," he added.
According to the director of Sustainable Forest Management Institute,Nguyen Ngoc Lung, irresponsible and poor land management by localauthorities and inconsistency in the Government's land policy havecaused difficulties to forestry enterprises in obtaining certification.
Numerous forestry enterprises have not been provided certified land userights, while many other forests have two concomitant owners, whichmakes it impossible to register for the certificate, Lung added.
Nhi also added that 80 percent of processed wood is imported, whilethere are few wood processing workshops in forested areas. To improvethe effectiveness and sustainability of forest exploitation, investmentin forest plantations is desperately needed.
Vietnameseforest products are now present in 120 foreign markets, with exportturnover reaching 3.4 billion USD in 2010, according to Nguyen Thi HoangThuy, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade'sMultilateral Trade Policy.
However, according to NguyenTon Quyen, vice president of Vietnam Association of Wood and ForestProducts, 90 percent of the exported timber products are sold throughmiddle men and most products are based on export designs leavingVietnamese produced goods unrecognised abroad.
Inaddition, due to the excessive concentration on exports, the domesticmarket is now dominated by foreign enterprises cornering up to 80percent of total domestic spending on wood products, said Tran Duc Sinh,General Director of the Vietnam Forestry Company .
Enterprises should be aware of the significance of using certifiedtimber and wood products to widen export markets, while also payingattention to the domestic market, Nhi emphasised./.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification proves wood products arefrom certified sources of origin throughout the supply chain, andguarantees that timber used has been supplied through responsiblyharvested and verified sources.
Only legally harvestedtimber and wooden products are allowed to be imported to Europeanmarkets, as regulated by the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement,Governance and Trade.
The US Lacey Act also bans the import, export and transport of illegally-exploited forest products into the US market.
To meet the foreign export requirements, Vietnam has targeted that30 percent of the total production forest area will meet FSCcertification in 2020.
"However, to date, only 0.36 percent, equal to 16,500ha has been certified," Nhi said.
"No practical solutions to expand the certified area have been discussed nor implemented," he added.
According to the director of Sustainable Forest Management Institute,Nguyen Ngoc Lung, irresponsible and poor land management by localauthorities and inconsistency in the Government's land policy havecaused difficulties to forestry enterprises in obtaining certification.
Numerous forestry enterprises have not been provided certified land userights, while many other forests have two concomitant owners, whichmakes it impossible to register for the certificate, Lung added.
Nhi also added that 80 percent of processed wood is imported, whilethere are few wood processing workshops in forested areas. To improvethe effectiveness and sustainability of forest exploitation, investmentin forest plantations is desperately needed.
Vietnameseforest products are now present in 120 foreign markets, with exportturnover reaching 3.4 billion USD in 2010, according to Nguyen Thi HoangThuy, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade'sMultilateral Trade Policy.
However, according to NguyenTon Quyen, vice president of Vietnam Association of Wood and ForestProducts, 90 percent of the exported timber products are sold throughmiddle men and most products are based on export designs leavingVietnamese produced goods unrecognised abroad.
Inaddition, due to the excessive concentration on exports, the domesticmarket is now dominated by foreign enterprises cornering up to 80percent of total domestic spending on wood products, said Tran Duc Sinh,General Director of the Vietnam Forestry Company .
Enterprises should be aware of the significance of using certifiedtimber and wood products to widen export markets, while also payingattention to the domestic market, Nhi emphasised./.
