Profit 15 million VND/month
Ms. Nguyen Thi Muoi - a family with over 20 years of experience in the charcoal business - said that her family has 5 charcoal kilns, mainly burning mangrove charcoal. Each batch takes 20 - 30 days to burn.
When the coal is cooked, wait about 20 days for it to cool before taking it out of the kiln and selling it to traders. After deducting costs, if the price is good, each kiln will bring in a profit of about 15 million VND. If the price is low, each kiln will still earn a profit of about 5-6 million VND. "To make coal, you have to go through many stages and it takes time, but this profession is sustainable and rarely makes a loss," said Ms. Muoi.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chuyen - a charcoal kiln owner in Xuan Hoa charcoal village, the main raw materials used for charcoal are mangrove, longan, star apple, eucalyptus, grapefruit... On average, each year, a charcoal kiln produces 6 batches, each batch averaging 12 tons. The main consumption market is domestic and a part is exported.
"Life here depends mainly on coal kilns," added Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, a household with nearly 20 years of experience in the coal industry.
Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang - Vice Chairman of Xuan Hoa Commune People's Committee - said that the coal craft village currently has over 200 households working with over 400 operating kilns. The craft village has created jobs for over 1,000 workers, with jobs such as carrying firewood, bringing firewood into the kiln, loading, sorting coal and transporting it to boats or trucks. During the main season, workers' income ranges from 300,000 - 400,000 VND/day.
According to the Department of Science and Technology of Soc Trang province, each year the craft village supplies the market with nearly 34,000 tons of products, achieving revenue of nearly 52 billion VND, of which profit is more than 30 billion VND.
Environmental problems
Although providing jobs and stable income for the people, the coal kilns in Xuan Hoa cause many consequences due to smoke and dust. Walking along Provincial Road 932B through the craft village, one can feel the distinctive smell of burning firewood. Trees, houses, fences, traffic signs... are all covered in black smoke. People here said they do not dare to repaint their houses because in a short time, the walls will be as black as ink.
In the coal kilns, many workers were busy carrying firewood into the furnace, while others were unloading coal from the furnace to sort it. Their faces and clothes were covered with dust. Most of these people only wore hats, using cloth to cover half of their faces to keep the dust from getting into their noses, and their eyes were still unprotected by glasses.
“The hardest part is taking the coal out of the furnace because we have to be in the furnace more than outside, so it's very stuffy, plus it's dusty and hot,” said a woman taking the coal.
Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang - Vice Chairman of Xuan Hoa Commune People's Committee - shared that recently, relevant departments and branches have implemented many measures to treat emissions from coal-fired kilns suitable for household scale. However, the cost of a treatment system is still quite expensive compared to the income from coal-fired kilns, so people are not interested. "Currently, only one household is implementing this model" - Mr. Giang said.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chuyen - owner of 7 coal kilns in Xuan Hoa coal village, a few years ago the facility used a smoke collection and misting system to reduce dust and smoke, but the amount of CO gas was still high.
“I hope to receive investment support, new and effective technology to improve product quality, reduce environmental pollution for long-term development,” said Mr. Chuyen.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Duy - Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Soc Trang province - said that last August, a working group of the Ministry of Science and Technology visited the craft village to survey the current situation, record opinions and recommendations from people directly involved in production as well as people living in the area. The Department of Science and Technology also proposed to support the locality in researching smoke and dust treatment equipment; have policies to support kiln owners with funding to install equipment to ensure no pollution. At the same time, it is necessary to have solutions to support the production process, in order to shorten the time to create fast and quality products, contributing to increasing higher income for people.
