Artex Duy Thanh Ltd Co has earned US$700,000 exporting rattan products this year, its first year of operation. The Da Nang city company produces rattan furniture and homewares, primarily for export to Japan and European countries. The US is a potential new market for the firm.
Company director Le Huu Thanh said the Da Nang People’s Committee helped the business showcase its goods at handicraft fairs in Frankfurt, Germany and Seoul, the Republic of Korea, this year.
Thanh said most of the firms showcasing their wares found the international fairs profitable. However, revenue seemed to dry up once the fairs ended.
"If Vietnamese companies truly want to market abroad, a distributor is necessary," Thanh said.
But distributors could be demanding: after two of three years investigating and monitoring a company, distributors must be satisfied with the quality of goods, price stability and the ability of the firm to manufacture on a large scale before signing contracts with producers, he said.
Thanh also said quality and design must remain important elements.
Artex Duy Thanh plans to invest in its designs and equipment for a series of small workshops nationwide.
Thanh said of the 84 State and private companies participating in the German trade fair, only 20 exported their goods.
Even as more overseas consumers turned to products made of rattan, bamboo, coconut palm and sedge, obstacles still remained for the industry, said Thanh.
For one, the prices of raw material increase the more rattan products are manufactured. Supply areas have not kept pace with demand, thereby driving up prices for the increasingly precious raw woods.
Labour costs can be sizeable as well. Viet Nam’s trademark cheap labour demands better wages when the workforce is involved in industrial-scale manufacture.
For these reasons, many Vietnamese producers have been forced to turn down large contracts with US companies.
Rattan producers in Phu Nghia Commune in Ha Tay Province have another story to tell. The 400-year-old craft has gotten a new lease on life: the commune sells its traditional rattan products over the internet.
As a result, approximately 85 per cent of households earn stable incomes. The average wage per person sits at VND700,000-800,000 a month. Residents say they previously depended on farming and made a lot less.
Last year, rattan production earned the commune VND24 billion (US$1.5 million), two-thirds of its total revenue. That figure is expected to reach VND26 billion this year.
Nguyen Viet Hong, chairman of the Phu Nghia Co-operative, said rattan export markets were expanding to new regions of Japan, France and the US in addition to its traditional eastern European markets.
He said his co-operative signed new foreign contracts after introducing its products on the internet. After receiving the orders, local craftsmen make the goods on demand.
About 50 rattan producers in the commune export their products.
Local workshops have set up material sources from Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho provinces.
To optimise delivery of goods, workshops in the commune have established agencies to package and transport the products by sea, land and air.
VIR