U.S.'s NGO Discredit Vietnamese Woodwork Sector
Vietnamese woodwork exporters are finding hard in doing business in the U.S as the U.S-based Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) posted a number of articles smearing Vietnam woodwork sector.
The articles said Vietnam’s woodwork sector use smuggled and un-sourced wood to process, estimating that at least 500,000 cubic meters of wood were smuggled from Laos to Vietnam annually.
The EIA called on environment agencies and European Committee to put pressure on the U.S. importers to reduce importing Vietnam-sourced woodwork products.
The Vietnam Forestry Products and Woodworks Association (Vietfores), the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Woodwork and Fine Art (Hawa), and other local exporters showed their indignation against the rumor in the meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Trade April 12.
Trinh Vy, Office Manager of the Vietfores, noted that the article aimed to damage Vietnamese woodwork’s foothold in the U.S market.
Vy said Vietnam now ranks the second in ASEAN in terms of woodworks export, but its woodwork industry is inferior to that of China, the U.S, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil and Mexico, adding that imports account for half of Vietnam’s woodwork export revenues.
The Ministry advised the Vietfores, the Hawa and local companies to collect evidences to refute the slanderous charge.
The U.S. is now the biggest importer of Vietnamese woodwork products. Last year, the U.S. imported US$930 million worth of Vietnamese woodworks, up 25 per cent on year. The figure is expected to rise to US$1.1 billion in 2008. (Vietnam Economic Times)
Vietnamese
