Since Vietnam’s timber exports are on the rise, securing supply chains for raw materials is crucial. Photo: Le Toan By the end of 2020, Nguyen Trong Hieu and seven other production households representing the Lien Ha handicraft village in Hanoi’s Dan Phuong district had been supplying the market mostly with beds and wardrobes, mainly to furniture store Tan Vinh Cuu JSC (Tavico) in the southern province of Dong Nai. Hieu told VIR, “We are gradually creating links between production households in Lien Ha and furniture manufacturers in the south to promote and sell our products.” However, as long as the southern market remains unfamiliar with traditional handicraft products from the north, Lien Ha can certainly not sell its products immediately. The advantages of its craftsmanship or the use of proper and high-quality materials cannot offset the cost of transporting from Hanoi to Dong Nai. “The important factor for these products is to have a unique design, but we cannot always achieve it,” Hieu explained. The emergence of Lien Ha village’s products at Tavico has attracted the attention of other manufacturers, contributing to creating new awareness for traditional craft villages about the legal use of timber. This association process can help craft villages build brand names and values through activities that capture market trends, the importance of designs, and the demand of domestic consumers. Weak links There are already several link models between craft villages and manufacturers in Vietnam, some of which were born when they realised that such cooperation would foster survival to withstand the pandemic, even before taking sustainable development into account. However, these models are still very new, focusing on a few timber suppliers and not meant for export, which would benefit the entire value chain the most. “Vietnam has a weak and inactive link system when it comes to wood billets and other raw materials,” said Tran Thien, director of …
