Recently, a delegation of government and businessmen of Yoshino town from Nara Prefecture of Japan visited in searching for opportunities to invest and develop the wood industry in Binh Duong Province. Noting from the delegation's visit, the potential for cooperation between the two sides was great.
Despite great exportation revenue, Binh Duong woodwork enterprises only own average machines and technologies. This is the great opportunity for Binh Duong woodwork enterprises to cooperate for development with Japan. In this photo: Wood production is on-going at Scancom factory in Song Thanh Industrial Park I. Photo: Duy Chi
Resourceful wood materials
Yoshino has a tradition of hundreds of years in the manufacturing and processing furniture. Wood production here is at the top of Nara Prefecture and eighth in Japan. It is also famous for its natural forests of 300-500 years old. Therefore, in addition to traditional production and wood processing, this locality is also a tourist destination associated with industrial services.
In addition to the natural forests preserved and endorsed by UNESCO as a natural heritage, Yoshino is also known as Japan's wooden kingdom with its forest timbered in 70 to 100 years of planting, said Masayasu Hosokawa, a representative of Yoshino. Thanks to the strict regulations and timbering at the right age, the quality of wood here is very popular for its beautiful color, aroma, uniformity of quality and high durability. Wood quality here is ranked third in Japan for high-grade wood. In addition, Japan is a world leader in technology, machinery and consumer markets.
"From these advantages and potentials, we would like to co-invest with Binh Duong in all fields, especially the fields of strengths of both sides," said Masayasu Hosokawa.
Cooperation opportunity for woodwork enterprises
At the reception, Tran Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee said that Binh Duong has 63 countries and territories investing in, of which Japanese investors are ranked second with total capital registered up to over USD 6 billion. The strength of Japanese investors is to their advanced technologies and investments in high-tech industries such as electronics, plastics, and processing technologies. Particularly, the Japanese wood industry is less involved. However, there are some Japanese enterprises producing some specific wood products with high-value materials, such as traditional Japanese church cabinets with gold plated inside; each product is worth up to tens of thousands of US dollars.
According to Huynh Quang Thanh, Chairman of Binh Duong Wood Processing Association, Binh Duong leads the country in terms of export turnover. Main timber products in the province are from high quality hardwood.
At present, the wood import markets of domestic manufacturers are diversified across North America, Europe, New Zealand etc. The export markets are also dominated by Japan, USA, and Europe. Advantages of domestic woodwork enterprises are industrious and skillful workers and low labor price. Competition of wood products is quite good in the markets.
Thanh added that although the export turnover and production output of the wood industry is high, the the machinery and technologies of Binh Duong enterprise are mostly average and not modern. Therefore, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of production, in the coming time, woodwork enterprises in Binh Duong province will continue to focus on modernizing machines and renovating technologies. Japan is a leading country in terms of technologies and machinery, so the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries are great.
Reported by Duy Chi – Translated by Vi Bao
