Vietnamese wood enterprises have plenty of opportunities to export to Australia thanks to a number of factors that play into their favour, trade experts said. Source: Việt Nam News
Việt Nam’s favourable geographical location as well as Australian strong import demand and preferences brought by free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA make exporting wood products to Australia a viable prospect.
According to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Australia, domestic consumers tend to favour low-cost furniture. However, local producers fail to compete with foreign exporters in terms of prices due to high labour and input costs.
Australian customers, on the other hand, are open to the prospect of buying imported wooden furniture, as they pay attention to the quality, design, and price of the furniture rather than their origin.
The office added while there are plenty of untapped opportunities waiting for Vietnamese exporters, they should improve their designs to suit Australian consumers’ taste, and improve their product quality and lower their prices to take full advantage of these opportunities.
Australia was one of the top ten importers of Vietnamese wood and timber products in the first five months of this year, according to the General Department of Việt Nam Customs.
Australia imported more than US$66.7 million worth of wood and wood products from Việt Nam during the period, up 11.3% year-on-year, the department’s statistics revealed.
The nation has nearly 4000 timber processing firms, including 1500 companies specialising in producing wood products for export.
