Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky…

About 50km from Vinh, in the Duom area – also known as Thuy Chung hamlet (Thanh Thuy, Thanh Chuong), bordering Laos and Huong Son district (Ha Tinh province) – an unlicensed wood chipping factory has existed for quite some time. The Duom area is the base of Production Team No. 2, General Youth Volunteer Brigade 5, while the unlicensed wood chipping factory, belonging to the Thanh Thuy Agricultural Cooperative, is managed by Mr. Tran Cong Quy, a member of General Youth Volunteer Brigade 5.

The wood chipping factory is located on a fairly large, flat plot of land, approximately 2 hectares in size. This land, originally used for perennial crops, is under the management of the 5th Youth Volunteer Brigade but has been leased to a member household, who is also a member of the Cooperative. The factory buildings and wood chipping equipment are old and outdated. At the time of our visit, the factory grounds contained acacia wood, both round logs and peeled wood for plywood production, as well as wood chips. However, the wood chipping machines were out of operation. According to the factory owner, Tran Cong Quy, they were malfunctioning and undergoing repairs.

Mr. Tran Cong Quy introduced himself as having joined the Youth Volunteer Brigade 5 shortly after its establishment in 2000. Later, he became a member of Production Team No. 2, settling in the Duom area to establish a stable life, developing a combined agriculture and forestry model, protecting upstream watershed protection forests, maintaining political security and social order, and contributing to the security of the Vietnam-Laos border.

This area was once a desolate, uninhabited hilly region with no roads or electricity. Over 20 years later, thanks to the efforts of three production teams, comprising 157 households and nearly 600 people, the Đượm region now boasts tea plantations and approximately 700 hectares of lush acacia forest. For the past three years or so, the Đượm region has had access to the national power grid, opening up many avenues for economic development for the local households and team members.

The Thanh Thuy Agricultural Cooperative was established during this period, in 2020. The registered business activities of the Cooperative include wholesale of agricultural and forestry raw materials (excluding wood, bamboo, and rattan) and live animals; production of plywood, veneer, particleboard, and other thin boards; production of other wood products, products from bamboo, rattan, straw, and braided materials... Although wood chipping was not included in the registered business activities, the Cooperative invested in it after Mr. Quy and the members recognized the increasing economic value of acacia trees for the households of the General Team members and people in the region.

Mr. Quy explained: “The cooperative members put a lot of effort into planting and caring for the acacia trees for 5-6 years, but they are always pressured by traders from other places to lower prices. Acacia trees become hollow and lose value if left for too long, while the cooperative members' lives are difficult, so they are forced to sell. Recognizing that organizing wood chipping would be economically beneficial for the cooperative and also convenient for households in the area, we invested in equipment to do it…”

Since opening its workshop, Thanh Thuy Agricultural Cooperative has become a purchasing point for acacia wood from most of its members in the area, as well as acacia growers in Thanh Thuy commune and Son Hong commune, Huong Son district (Ha Tinh province).

Mr. Tran Cong Quy also did not hide the fact that the land the Cooperative is using has not been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights, nor has its land use purpose been changed; the relevant documents and procedures regarding the environment, safety management, origin of forest products, etc., are also incomplete. Therefore, he believes that Thanh Thuy Agricultural Cooperative made a mistake in installing the wood chipping equipment and machinery, and the factory system, which risks closure.

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Recently, an inspection team visited the cooperative and pointed out existing problems, requesting that the wood chipping operation be stopped. Therefore, we are trying to complete the necessary procedures to resume production…”

Mr. Tran Cong Quy

In Tan Ky district, there is an unlicensed wood chipping factory in Nghia Binh commune. The factory is located about 100 meters from the Ho Chi Minh Highway, covering an area of ​​over 7,500 square meters.²The land is the garden of a household in Hamlet 6. The owner of this wood chipping factory is Mr. Tran Xuan Hai, former Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Nghia Binh Commune.

According to Mr. Hai, the workshop opened in 2021, with registered business activities including: sawing, splitting, planing, and preserving wood (sawning, splitting, peeling, processing, producing wood fibers, wood powder, wood shavings, and wood chips). However, in Nghia Binh, an area with one of the largest acacia plantations in Tan Ky district (approximately 800 hectares), farmers are often subjected to price manipulation by traders. Therefore, in September 2023, Mr. Hai's family borrowed money to buy a wood chipping line to switch to wood chipping.

As someone familiar with state regulations, Mr. Tran Xuan Hai acknowledged that organizing production on land that had not been converted for other purposes and engaging in business activities not listed in the business registration certificate were illegal. However, he explained that the main source of wood chips was from his family's own planted forests and purchased from several households and individuals within Nghia Binh commune. With the factory's capacity to chip 100 tons of fresh acacia wood per day, it would benefit and increase the economic value for the people of Nghia Binh commune.

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In Tan Ky district, along the Ho Chi Minh Highway, there are only a few weighing stations that also serve as acacia wood purchasing centers to sell to other production facilities in the province or to Thanh Hoa. Therefore, organizing production locally would yield higher economic benefits for the people…”.

Mr. Tran Xuan Hai

Con Cuong, Nghia Dan, Thai Hoa, Quy Chau...

Investigations reveal that unlicensed wood chipping factories exist in many localities, not just in Thanh Chuong and Tan Ky districts. For example, in the mountainous Con Cuong district, there is one wood chip processing facility belonging to Hoan Thanh Wood Processing Joint Stock Company. The factory is located in Tong Chai village, Chi Khe commune, within the premises of Huy Tuan Joint Stock Company - Nghe An branch (formerly the Tra Lan paper production, recycling, and processing plant of Tan Hong Import-Export Joint Stock Company).

In 2019, Huy Tuan Joint Stock Company was granted a land lease by the Provincial People's Committee to implement an investment project for the production of corrugated cardboard with a capacity of 45,000 tons/year. However, during the process of completing the procedures, Huy Tuan Joint Stock Company leased a portion of its factory to Hoan Thanh Wood Processing Joint Stock Company to install a wood chipping line. Because the wood chipping operation was not in accordance with the law, after a period of time, the Con Cuong District People's Committee discovered the violation, conducted an inspection, and ordered the company to cease operations.

In Nghia Dan district, right in the Nghia Long commune industrial cluster, Phu Quy Forestry Products Processing Joint Stock Company is also operating wood chipping activities in violation of regulations. Phu Quy Forestry Products Processing Joint Stock Company acquired the export wood processing plant project from Phuong Nguyen Joint Stock Company in 2016.

Also in 2016, in Document No. 9817/UBND-CN, the Provincial People's Committee gave its opinion on amending the Investment Certificate for the Export Wood Processing Plant project, transferring the investor from Phuong Nguyen Joint Stock Company to Phu Quy Forestry Products Processing Joint Stock Company. The document requested clarification of the investment objectives and product types of the project before considering granting the amended Investment Certificate (note: no wood chip processing). However, while the amendment to the license was not yet completed, Phu Quy Forestry Products Processing Joint Stock Company proceeded to install the production line and begin wood chipping operations.

In the Nghia My Industrial Cluster, Thai Hoa town, on December 13, 2023, a business was fined 170 million VND by the authorities for administrative violations. This business, PTP Investment Co., Ltd., was implementing a project to build a factory producing laminated wood panels and civil and artistic wood products. The violation that led to the fine was the installation and operation of two wood chip crushing lines, which were not included in the construction design drawings and did not conform to the approved detailed construction plan.

In the mountainous district of Quỳ Châu, a wood chipping factory was installed and operated in Kẻ Nậm village, Châu Bình commune, on land previously used as a waste disposal site for the Bản Mồng reservoir project, which had been handed over to the local authorities. In January 2023, citing the need to prevent encroachment on land used for acacia cultivation, the Châu Bình Commune People's Committee leased the land to Mr. Hồ Đức Hoàn to open a wood processing factory. However, in December 2023, the Quỳ Châu District People's Committee discovered that Mr. Hồ Đức Hoàn was illegally constructing the wood chipping factory. Therefore, they issued a directive to the Châu Bình Commune People's Committee to inspect and handle the violations according to the law…

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