Vietnam’s Producers Seize Global Wood Market Opportunities

Vietnam’s three million hectares of commercial plantations (mostly acacia wood) supply the wood industry with around 40 million cubic meters of wood each year. The country has more than 5,000 wood production and trading companies, all producing products such as indoor/outdoor wood furniture, wood-based panels, wood chips, and wood pellets. In fact, Vietnam is the largest exporter of wood furniture to the United States.

However, much of the wood produced and manufactured into final products is imported from other countries. Vietnam spends more than $2 billion per year (2022) on imports, such as logs, sawn wood, and plywood, from 114 countries due to limited local capacity to produce quality, certified wood at a large enough scale to meet growing demand.

The USAID Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management Project is supporting Vietnam’s producers by promoting improved practices and market linkages all along the acacia value chain to better seize the opportunity for enhanced livelihoods and sales and to increase carbon sequestration through better management of plantation forests, in addition to the Project’s other work to avoid carbon emissions from natural forest conversion and degradation and to?improve the quality, ?diversity, and productivity of natural production forests. ??

Hundreds of wood furniture producers and manufacturers recently gathered at the Quy Nhon Outdoor Lifestyle Fair?(Q-FAIR) held in the wood production hub of Quy Nhon, Vietnam. In partnership with the Association of Vietnam Timber and Forest Product (VIFOREST), the Project facilitated a dialogue at Q-FAIR to promote the Project’s interventions to strengthen Vietnam’s acacia value chain and to highlight lessons learned and opportunities for local producers to meet more global demand for quality, sustainable wood products, including furniture.

The dialogue featured perspectives from various acacia value chain actors, including acacia growers, improved seedling nursery managers, and local forest group leaders. Conversations covered the need to combat illegal logging and ensure deforestation-free supply chains, promote green trade, and widely promote forest certification and traceability to ensure sustainable forest management and green growth in the long term.

Mr. Pham Quoc Noi, a Project-supported forest owner, shared his experience transitioning from traditional short rotation practices in acacia growing towards more sustainable methods with longer 9-to10-year rotations.

“I saw the benefits when I switched, and I want to encourage my neighbors to use good quality seedlings and good plantation management practices.” Although the high-quality acacia seedlings cost farmers 3-4 times more than the previous ones, the benefits were clear. He shared, “I can see the acacia trunk [of the improved variety] is heavy and dense compared to the small thin trunks before that could not withstand a storm. I had to buy 10 times more than the old one to cover the same space. While the cost of one improved seedling is higher, it is more productive. Before [on a shorter, 4–5-year rotation], I had to buy seedlings again and again and replant again and again, which costs more in seeds and labor. Now, if I buy it once, it lasts longer and the quality is much better.”

Mr. Noi’s improved acacia plantation is drawing the attention of his neighbors, who now come to see it for themselves.

The dialogue highlighted Vietnam’s success in creating incentives for farmers to expand their areas of plantation forest and in successfully promoting the adaptation of sustainable acacia production practices (e.g., shifting to longer rotations, improving the quality and traceability of trees, and reducing harmful post-harvest burning practices). However, more effort and enabling policies are needed for farmers to see the value in shifting from traditional methods to improved practices.

To find out more about the USAID Sustainable Management Project: https://rb.gy/xajyl8

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