A challenge for craft villages

      For years, Vietnam’s culture and economy have been associated with craft villages and their products which are consumed locally and in 136 countries worldwide. Nevertheless, few people know that the craft villages are in trouble due to raw material shortages, says Luu Duy Dan, general secretary of the Vietnam Craft Village Association.
Bat Trang pottery, Phu Vinh bamboo products and Dong Ky woodwork products have become the main trading items in the country’s north due to their unique and traditional cultural features. Despite being popular villages, trade turnover is down due to the material supply problem.
Shortage of capital and raw materials
It is believed that Vietnam’s craft villages will fall into a material supply crisis in the next 10 years if local authorities fail to find solutions soon. Most of the villages lack standard materials to maintain production.
The country’s bamboo area has dwindled and many enterprises import the tropical grass with its woody stems from China, Laos and Cambodia. “Bamboo imported from Laos’s Hua Phan province is much cheaper than in Vietnam,” says a representative of Phu Vinh village.
Rattan supplies are also low after the tropical palm trees are exploited to serve export. Rattan in traditional supplying regions such us Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An are nearly exhausted.
Vietnam’s silk products use over 90% substandard silk materials, resulting in poor-quality items from Van Phuc, Nha Xa and Duy Xuyen craft villages. Meo village in Thai Binh province, the country’s chief exporter of fine handmade embroidered handkerchiefs, has to import fibers from India and Bangladesh at prices increasing year by year.
Clay supplies in Hai Duong, Quang Ninh and Phu Tho provinces are also limited and nothing has been done to reduce the need to import materials to the pottery and ceramic villages.
In Vietnam, only Du Du, Vo Lang and Dong Giao wood-carving villages take materials from man-grown forests. Most furniture villages consume a huge amount of wood with unknown origins. This is a big advantage for the villages as more and more international consumers require certificates of origin of the Forest Stewardship Council.
Development of the woodworking villages in years to come will be hindered by lack of stable material supplies. Material price hikes will cause the products to lose competitiveness on the world market.
Plans for material supply zone
Most craft villages in Hanoi cannot keep their production active as nearly 80% of the material comes from outside sources, according to the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade. They have to import steel, iron, silk and wool from China and wood from Laos. Rattan and bamboo come from Son La and Lai Chau provinces.
Some villages can produce with local materials but have to depend on certain seasonal harvests. Meanwhile, the long-term development of material supply zones is the solution for the sustainable development of craft villages.
Some localities have established trade village development plans till 2020 but have yet to define material supply zones. Since these plans are being carried out in scattered provinces, they are not developing the area as a whole and the Government has yet to issue guidelines. As a result, international organizations find it hard to support development of the material supply zones.