Handicraft industry identifies weaknesses
15:47′ 28/07/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam
Poor design and the lack of product promotion are two inherent weaknesses hampering, Vietnam’s handicraft industry, said Hoang Van Dung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He said these two problems were highlighted in a survey conducted by the VCCI to get feedback from foreign importers.
Dung estimated that about 90% of Vietnam’s exported handicrafts are designed based on individual contracts from foreign partners. Without incentives to create their own styles, the products have limited appeal to foreign customers in general.
“In the light of the nation’s international integration, imitating designs will expose enterprises to the threat of litigation, while simply outsourcing for foreign importers creates little added value to the products,” said Dung.
Domestic enterprises need to shift focus to diversifying their products to better compete in the marketplace, he said.
A lack of trade promotion is another problem preventing domestic handicrafts from making their way in the world market, he said, adding few Vietnamese handicraft makers market their products or established corporate trademarks.
“The industry needs a strategy to promote exports in the near future,” said the director of the Vietnam Craft Villages Development Project, Le Ba Ngoc, who identified eight factors to guide the process: whether enterprises are ready to export; how to export; how to build their trademarks; which products are exported; how to evaluate products; how to access markets; which marketing strategy to apply to each market; and how to deal with customer demands.
The handicraft industry posted export earnings of about US$500mil last year, said the Ministry of Trade, which predicted the figure would increase to an annual $1.5bil by 2010.
There are now more than 2,000 craft villages nationwide and another 1,200 handicraft enterprises employing 1.35mil workers, mostly from rural areas.
The two major export markets for Vietnamese handicraft products are the EU and the US said the ministry.
(Source: Viet Nam News)