Int’l woodworking expo slated for this week
Int’l woodworking expo slated for this week
VietnamWood, an international woodworking industry fair, will take place from September 18 to 21 in HCMC’s District 7, with more than 480 exhibitors from 30 countries and territories attending.
The 13th edition of the show will showcase high-performance woodworking machinery and equipment from hundreds of popular brands such as Homag, Weinig, Siempelkamp and SCM.
The event is expected to offer a comprehensive picture of optimal business foundations to companies in the wood and furniture processing sector, who are making efforts to find high-quality woodworking machinery and technology to address their existing issues with productivity, human resources and technology investment.
Visitors can also attend seminars during the fair, where experts from the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Taiwan Woodworking Machinery Association will share their knowledge of and experience with technology transfers, productivity improvement and other solutions for the local woodworking industry in the digital era.
Data from the Vietnam Administration of Forestry shows that the country’s forestry product exports totaled over US$1 billion last month, up 16% year-on-year, sending the total in the year to August rising to over US$7 billion, up more than 18% versus the previous year.
Exports of wood and wooden products reached some US$6.6 billion.
With this upward trend, coupled with the rising number of orders for the rest of the year, the local wood industry expects that export turnover of forestry products in all of this year will hit the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s target of US$11 billion, up US$1.7 billion against 2018.
Besides the positive growth rates, however, the local wood industry is facing four main challenges.
Local wood processors have had to compete fiercely with the increasing number of foreign-invested firms joining the local market.
Further, the shortage of workers is putting additional pressure on local firms.
Meanwhile, labor productivity at local firms remains low. The quality of Vietnamese labor ranks 11th on a list of 12 Southeast Asian countries that responded to a World Bank survey.
Finally, the digitalization process has seriously affected the processing, management, design and sales activities of the industry, prompting wood firms to actively embrace change.
Accordingly, the organizing committee of VietnamWood 2019 expects the event to help local firms work out appropriate investment strategies to ensure continued growth.
