Glue price drops, many 'follow-up' services are sluggish and have stopped operating

Some forest product processing lines in Que Phong district have stopped operating. Photo: Van Truong

At this time, going to Que Phong district, along the mountainous roads of National Highway 48, the roads to Tien Phong and Thong Thu communes, you will see deserted acacia exploitation and transportation activities. The forest product processing factory in Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district is abandoned, the machinery system has not been used for a long time and has signs of rust.

The owner of this forest product processing factory shared: For more than 5 months now, the acacia and bamboo processing facility has had to stop operating because the products made cannot be consumed, causing dozens of workers to have to quit their jobs.

Mr. Vi Van Tinh in Tien Phong commune said: My family has 3 hectares of acacia. Since Tet, the price of acacia has continuously dropped sharply, from 1.4 million VND/ton, now it has "dropped" to only over 750,000 VND/ton. The price is cheap but no one buys it, so we have to stop exploiting it.

Acacia forests are ready to be exploited in Tien Phong commune, Que Phong but no one wants to buy them. Photo: Van Truong

The suspension of acacia exploitation in Que Phong district affects the lives and reinvestment in production of many households, not to mention that most of the services "following" this profession also have to stop operating.

Mr. Vi Van Kien in Tien Phong commune said: "Previously, working as acacia cutter and bark peeler, we earned over 300,000 VND/day to make ends meet. In the past few months, the acacia industry has stopped operating, leaving us without work and making life even more difficult."

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture of Que Phong district, the whole district currently has over 9,000 hectares of acacia, concentrated in the communes of Muong Noc, Tien Phong, Thong Thu, Quang Phong, of which over 3,000 hectares of acacia are old enough to be exploited but cannot be exploited due to the low price and difficulty in finding a market. The whole Que Phong district has over 3,000 workers "dependent" on the acacia industry who are unemployed.

In Quy Chau - the locality with the largest area of ​​hybrid acacia in the province, all acacia exploitation and transportation activities have been "frozen". The owner of an acacia purchasing facility in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau shared that in the past, they purchased 50-60 tons of acacia per day for people in the surrounding area, but in the past 4-5 months, acacia prices have decreased, wood processing factories have not bought acacia raw materials, so we do not dare to purchase them either.

The glue purchasing point in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district has stopped operating for many months. Photo: Van Truong

Mr. Nguyen Tra in Chau Binh commune added: "Last year, I borrowed money to invest 3-4 billion VND to buy 3 trucks to transport acacia, 2 excavators to build roads to exploit acacia. For more than 5 months, my family's fleet of trucks and excavators have been idle, every month I have to bear many other expenses to "hold on" waiting for the price of acacia to increase so that I can continue operating."

In Chau Hanh commune, the whole commune has 3,800 hectares of acacia, of which over 1,000 hectares are old enough to be exploited. Recently, storms and tornadoes broke over 247 hectares of acacia, but so far people have not been able to sell the broken acacia area.

Mr. Hoang Van Duc in Hanh Tien village, Chau Hanh commune said: "My family has 4 hectares of acacia, of which 2 hectares of acacia trees have fallen and are lying around in the forest. We want to sell the broken acacia trees at a cheap price, but we have not been able to sell them for more than 2 weeks. We may have to use them as firewood."

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture of Quy Chau district: The district has over 21,000 hectares of raw acacia, annually exploiting over 5,000 hectares. Due to the low price of acacia, traders are not buying, so all acacia exploitation and transportation activities have had to stop, there are about over 5,000 acacia workers without jobs.

Ancillary services such as weighing stations and glue trucks in Quy Chau district have been dormant for months. Photo: Van Truong

With difficult output, many forest product processing enterprises are having to operate on a temporary basis. Previously, the wood chip factory in Quy Hop district produced over 10m³laminated wood/day, but in the past 5 months this unit had to stop production and sell off over 200 m³Laminated wood products in stock, over 40 workers had to quit their jobs.

At Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited, there is currently over 3,500 m of inventory.³wooden products, worth over 23 billion VND; inventory is mainly laminated wood, wood blanks; exported to European countries.

One of the acacia wood processing facilities in Nghia Dan has many products in stock. Photo: Van Truong

Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai - Head of Forest Use and Development Department (Forestry Sub-Department) added: Nghe An currently has nearly 170,000 hectares of raw acacia forest, annually exploiting over 55,000 hectares.

The sharp drop in glue prices is due to the world economy continuing to face many difficulties, high inflation in some countries, especially China and some European countries, which have recently bought less glue products. People now have no choice but to wait for prices to increase before selling.