Wood industry: Utilizing the advantages of CPTPP 

As soon as the CPTPP comes into effect, the tariff will immediately drop to zero, which brings great advantages to Vietnam. In particular, the CPTPP will make the purchase of machinery, equipment and technology from developed countries such as Japan more convenient, when taxes are lowered.

However, Vice President of Vifores also pointed out that the big problem for Vietnamese enterprises is intellectual property rights. Mr. Quyen said that the knowledge about intellectual property of the wood industry of enterprises and state management agencies is still limited.

With 8 billion USD of export value, but the value of design products in Vietnam accounts for a very small percentage. "We all produce according to designs ordered by foreign countries, so they will protect that copyright. If you want to have a design, you must have a brand, if you want to have a brand, you must have intellectual property. We must have human resources and training for intellectual property. This is a very headache problem," said Mr. Quyen.

Vifores Vice President emphasized that the implementation of the CPTPP will involve many partners, not only timber enterprises, but also afforestation households, timber trade, timber transport, timber traders, and processing. wood… but their understanding of the matter is very limited. Businesses also have to learn by themselves and rise up; build a supply of timber.

  A representative of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (Vifores) said that in 2017, the export turnover of forest products reached 8 billion USD, of which wood and wood products reached nearly 7.7 billion USD. The remaining 300 million USD of 8 billion is the export value of non-timber forest products such as bamboo, rattan, sedge and carpet products.

With this turnover, the Vietnamese wood industry has finished 3 years early compared to the target of USD 8-8.5 billion by 2020 set out in the Target Program for Forestry Development for the 2016-2020 period. The wood industry has ranked 6th in the ranking of industries bringing the largest export turnover of Vietnam.

The economic recession in 2008-2009 in Europe reduced production capacity in this continent, thereby creating opportunities for Vietnam's wood industry. In addition, the labor shortage and high labor costs in China, Malaysia and Indonesia - countries competing for export wood processing with Vietnam also create opportunities for Vietnam's export wood processing industry. development, Mr. Hanh said.

Wood and wood products from Vietnam are currently being exported to many countries and regions, of which the largest markets are the US, Japan, Korea, China and the EU. Particularly for the US market, wood export turnover from the world's No. 1 economy has reached more than 3 billion USD in the past year.