Vietnam's wood processing industry "thirsty" for raw materials

PSNews-In recent years, the wood processing industry in Vietnam is facing a great challenge – an increasing shortage of raw materials; as a result, Vietnam has becomes heavily dependent on timber imports from other countries.

On May 27, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Science, Technology and Environment Committee held a workshop in Hanoi titled "Role and involvement of social organizations in the VPA/FLEGT Agreement: Negotiation Process and Future Plan Directions".

Vietnam is, on one hand, a timber producer country, and on the other hand, a timber consumer with a large number of forest planters and timber processing enterprises for exports, mostly on medium and small scales, said Ms. Nguyen Tuong Van at the General Department of Forestry.

At the workshop, participants discussed their views on deeper involvement in the VPA preparation process. In their discussions, they focused on assessing impacts of the future implementation of the deal; monitoring the business classification process and the complaint handling process; developing feedback channels to the Joint Implementation Committee and independent raters.

In recent years, the wood processing industry in Vietnam is facing a great challenge of increasingly exhausted raw materials. This has made Vietnam heavily dependent on timber imports from other countries. At present, 500-600 Vietnamese wood enterprises directly export wooden products to different countries, including the EU.

By Duy Tien

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