Rescue mission for wood workers

Vietcombank is offering a commercial supportive programme specially tailored to wood industry businesses and handicraft manufacturers with a committed credit package of VND1 trillion ($48.3 million).

Under the programme, Vietcombank will render a package support to businesses acquiring export letters of credit (L/C) or finance their export contracts on the condition these firms will later make import/export payments through Vietcombank’s system.

This is one of the ‘life pontoons’ to help businesses  weather through a difficult period.

Alongside support from banks, Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Wood Industry Association (HAWA) chairman Nguyen Chien Thang said the association had founded the Alliance Handicraft & Wooden Fine Art Corporation (HAWA Corporation) to support member units in handling big orders.

“HAWA Corporation acts as a go-between as its people come to member units to search suitable businesses for export contract fulfillment. Besides, businesses short of export orders can contact HAWA Corporation for further assistance,” Thang said.

Vietnam houses over 2,500 wooden handicraft and furniture manufacturers with 41 per cent of them having capital reserves of less than VND500 million ($24,000) each.

Industry experts assumed Vietnam would not achieve its target of reaping $4 billion from wooden handicraft and furniture export in 2011 given the current tough business climate.

In 2010, Vietnam posted around $3.5 billion from wooden product export, up 30.5 per cent against 2009’s, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The figure was $1.4 billion in the first five months of 2011with the export figure in May amounting to $230 million, around 11 per cent lower than April.