Floorboard in Vietnam in 2014: Viewpoints from international experts .

There is no doubt that the woodworking industry in Vietnam continues to grow. According to government sources in Vietnam, exports of timber products - mainly furniture - in 2012 reached $ 3.4 billion, up 18% compared to 2011. This figure increased by 4% in 2013. Many processing plants Chinese furniture based in Vietnam. So what happens with wood flooring manufacturing sector? According to a recent report of Vietfores based in Hanoi "Furniture Vietnam were present in more than 120 countries, the US accounts for 41%, followed by the EU 28% and Japan 13% of exports Vietnam's wooden . Vietnam is also the largest furniture export country in Southeast Asia and Vietnam wood industry is in the process of negotiations with the EU on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). "Unlike manufacturing wooden furniture is dominated by Taiwanese investors (approximately controlled more than half of production), the wood flooring field is dominated by manufacturers Vietnam from north to south.

They are large and small manufacturers, diverse business model , from exporting as the main , turn to domestic consumption. Especially since the global economic crisis in 2008 has negatively affected many western wood flooring market, has evidence that the wood flooring manufacturers are shifting from exports, turn to domestic business, The increasing of tourism and entertainment industry in Vietnam and the attention to the designing which has steered the domestic market to demand real hardwood floors.

No one is entirely sure how many factories in Vietnam , but with the appearance of at least a dozen factory - some in Hanoi / Haiphong, some in central and most of which are at southern , around Saigon.The wood flooring factories in Vietnam mostly use basic wood sawmill , produce for wood flooring factories with more sophisticated design , exports to some key markets, especially Japan.

There is contrasts notably that some factory equipment was old, outdated, mainly from Taiwan, many devices need repair and maintenance, while a number of other woodworking machinery from Germany, Austria and Italian manufacture high quality products are sold to major export markets. Also many kind of wood are often used in 2 North and South, as kind of American oak However, the type of wood in Vietnam and other countries in the region (Cambodia and Laos) still plays an important role in the wood flooring industry today. In both cases, American walnut wood is also used, especially for export to the Japanese market, one of the favorite market of Vietnam wood products.wood is imported mainly in the south, ash wood is imported mainly in the north.

Japanese importers launched the strict quality standards, is the measure for the products exported to the sunrise country. Wood flooring field can be very small, but extremely diversified. No doubt as to that industry in Vietnam woodworking continues to growth .According to Vietnam government sources , exports of wood products - mainly furniture - in 2012 reached $ 3.4 billion, up 18% compared to 2011. This figure increased by 4% in 2013. Many processing plants Chinese furniture based in Vietnam. So what happens with wood flooring manufacturing sector? With the increasing living conditions of 90 million people in Vietnam, the domestic market can grow rapidly with the export opportunities open to the manufacturer in Vietnam. Compared with wood flooring production capacity of China, still a lot to do, but showed signs of growth in this sector in Vietnam.

The recent visits showed large differences between the manufacturers in variety and quality with much choice. Some factories start with sawing wood of domestic and imported, to produce specialty flooring. The other factories import Russia's birch wood for plywood production orders. Vietnam Government wants to reduce dependence on imported timber and focus more on domestic wood sources to save foreign exchange, development of jobs in rural areas and material resources towards self-sufficiency . Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has approved some projects to restructure the forest to increase the area of forest land and encourage commercial production. This policy may affect wood flooring field , through encouraging investment in manufacturing wood flooring use local materials and reduce the amount of wood imported to create solid wood flooring, but it still meets domestic consumption where raw materials actually are used.

Vietnam may catch up with the Western industrial nations in manufacturing wood flooring or not is uncertain, when those countries have long experience in the furniture field or the ASEAN countries such as Malaysia or Indonesia, delays partly due to lack of raw materials.One commentator Vietnam said " the main reason of flooring wood industry as well as the furniture industry can not develop due to the furniture manufacturer with higher added value can not offset by the cost of imported wood too high, while producing wood floor with low added value, the only advantage of Vietnam on low labor costs could not compensate for other costs.” However, the expected growth of the domestic market can still encourage some investment in the field of wood flooring in Vietnam