Nguyễn Văn Diện, director of the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry’s Forestry Production Development Department, speaks at a conference on promoting the country’s wood brands in HCM City last week. — Photo nongthonviet.com.vn

HCM CITY — The Vietnamese wood industry needs to focus more on branding to increase its competitiveness in the world market and add export value, according to the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry.

Speaking at a conference in HCM City last week on promoting the country’s wood brands, Nguyễn Văn Diện, director of the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry’s Forestry Production Development Department, said the country had around 300 craft villages and 5,580 enterprises engaged in wood processing.

Of them, small and medium-sized ones accounted for nearly 97.8 per cent.

Việt Nam’s wood processing industry had developed rapidly, with exports rising steadily in recent years, but enterprises largely exported their products under foreign partners’ brands, causing them to lose 25-30 per cent of added value, he said.

"Few companies have their own designs and brands or sell directly to customers," he said.

He attributed it to a lack of branding development policy in the industry.

"Besides, enterprises lack experience, capital, human resources, and management capabilities to set up overseas sales networks or build brands," he said.

Developing overseas markets would require large production capacities, something that few Vietnamese enterprises have, he added.

A project to develop a sustainable and effective wood processing industry in 2021 - 2030 aims to turn it into a key one and promote trademarks for Vietnamese wood products domestically and internationally.

It also aims to put Việt Nam in the group of leading countries in terms of production, processing and export of wood and wood products.

Branding requires registration for protection of trademarks, product labels and industrial property rights of wood products.

"There is need for close cooperation between wood businesses and farmers for developing FSC-certified afforestation chains and creating a favourable production and business environment for firms," said Trần Lê Huy, vice chairman of the Forest Products Association of Bình Định [Province].

Diện said a business’s brand was its soul, national trademarks would help businesses expand their markets, and to have a national brand, businesses must have a good foundation.

The Agro Processing and Market Development Authority was drafting a decree on building brands for Việt Nam’s key agricultural products, the first step in building brands in a methodical and practical manner, he added.

Businesses said it was time to change the mindset from making money by diligence in production to building brands.

Building individual brands would help build national brands for the wood industry, which would not only increase the commercial value of products in the domestic and export markets but also bolster the status of Việt Nam’s furniture industry in the global market, they added. — VNS