Sir, how will the US postponement of the 60-day tax impact the Vietnamese wood industry?
- This is good news for the whole industry. The decision to postpone taxes helps businesses have more time to prepare and continue to receive orders. In the context of supply chain shift, this is an important time for the wood industry to stabilize production.
What are businesses doing to respond to challenges and wait for negotiation results?
- Wood industry enterprises have proposed many different groups of solutions. In the immediate future, the most urgent thing is to wait for information from the Government's negotiations. At the same time, businesses must also prepare for the worst possible situations.
In the short term, 90 days is enough time to negotiate available orders, maintain jobs for workers and avoid supply chain disruptions.
The enterprise is also preparing the origin of goods and the origin management mechanism, in order to meet the requirements in international trade relations.
What has the wood industry done to increase the value of localization in production?
- The wood furniture manufacturing industry has long applied technology. In production, raw wood accounts for a large proportion of about 50-60%.
Vietnam has the advantage of planted forests that meet about 60-65% of demand, mainly cajuput, hybrids... which are often used as plowers or wooden furniture accessories. Thanks to that, the value of localization in the industry is quite high.
How have businesses prepared in the current volatile context?
- Business people always want stability, but we are currently in a period of turmoil. In this context, the role of associations is very important - not only a place to gather the common voice of businesses, but also a bridge to support and remove difficulties for members.
The current wood industry is mainly private enterprises and FDI enterprises. There are almost no state-owned enterprises in this field. Therefore, in the current context, it is necessary to consider the private enterprise sector as an important pillar of the industry.
The State, associations and organizations involved support businesses in seeking new markets, restructuring production, and adapting to new requirements in global trade. This is especially important for businesses to be able to survive and develop sustainably.
At the same time, businesses in the industry expect to reduce import taxes on wood materials from the US and wood products with high tax rates (5-25%) to help domestic businesses import and export to other markets.
What advantages does Vietnam have in wood furniture production and what should be done to promote those advantages?
- In recent years, the wood industry has had a positive shift from simple processing models to product design. This is an important step to increase added value, build brands, and affirm the position of Vietnamese wood products in the international market.
With the strength of abundant labor resources and high skills in wood furniture production, the Vietnamese wood industry needs to promote restructuring, increase productivity, and enhance competitiveness to adapt to the new situation.
