Nghe An: Hybrid acacia prices fall dramatically, many localities stop exploitation

The glue purchasing point in Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe commune, Con Cuong district has temporarily closed its doors. Photo: Van Truong

Glue purchasing point at Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe commune, districtCon CuongIn the deserted scene, all factories and weighing stations are closed. The owner of this facility shared that before, they bought 30-40 tons of glue every day for people in the surrounding area, but since the beginning of March, the price of glue continued to decrease, wood processing factories did not import glue so they had to temporarily close.

Going deep into the forest road of Bong Khe commune, on both sides are immense acacia forests but there are no people exploiting them. Ms. Lo Thi Thuong in Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe commune is clearing grass for the acacia forest, saying: Acacia prices have dropped in the last two waves, from the highest price of 1.4 million VND/ton, in December 2022, acacia dropped to 1 million VND/ton, now it has dropped to only 840,000 VND/ton, even no one buys it so all people have to stop exploiting.

Ms. Lo Thi Thuong in Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe commune is cutting grass for the acacia forest, waiting for traders to come and buy. Photo: Van Truong

The cessation of acacia exploitation also entails many consequences, and services that "depend" on the exploitation profession must also stop operating. Mr. Vi Van Kien in Thanh Dao village is sitting and maintaining a sawing machine and confides: "The profession of hiring acacia sawers has not been able to finish the work for a long time, and the salary is 350,000 VND/day. Now that the exploitation has stopped, there is no income to support the family's life."

Not to mention thousands of local workers working as porters and peelers of acacia bark are unemployed and have reduced income.

Mr. Vi Van Kien in Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe, maintains a chainsaw during his "unemployment" days. Photo: Van Truong

Mr. Lo Van Ly, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Con Cuong district said: The district has over 12,000 hectaresraw glue, annually exploiting over 2,500 hectares. Currently, the whole district has 5 acacia purchasing points in the communes of Bong Khe, Chi Khe, Thach Ngan, Mau Duc, Don Phuc, all of which have stopped purchasing.

Similarly, Quy Chau district is considered a “granary” of acacia, but most of the forests are currently not exploited. Mr. Nguyen Si Luan, Chairman of Chau Hoi Commune People’s Committee, said: The whole commune has over 350 hectares of acacia, of which over 150 hectares are old enough to be exploited, but due to the low price, people have not exploited it for more than 10 days. Acacia is the main tree of the commune, so stopping the exploitation of acacia affects the lives and livelihoods of the people.

The vast acacia forest in Mau Duc commune, Con Cuong district is currently closed for exploitation. Photo: Van Truong

An acacia buyer in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau added: Recently, wood processing factories in Hoang Mai town and Thanh Hoa stopped purchasing raw materials. Therefore, we do not dare to buy for people. More than 10 acacia purchasing points in Quy Chau district are currently "inactive".

The entire Quy Chau district has over 21,000 hectares of raw acacia, of which over 4,000 hectares are exploited annually. At this time, the price of acacia is low, so most people have had to stop exploiting it.

Acacia forests in Quy Chau are ready for exploitation and are waiting for traders to come and buy them. Photo: Van Truong

Before Lunar New Year, average monthly sales were 400 m.³Wood, now only sells in small quantities from 20-30 m³wood/month. The current machinery system is operating at a low level, previously there were 90 workers, now only maintaining over 50 workers.

According to research, the reason for the low glue price is because the wholesale gas price in the European market has dropped to the lowest level since the conflict broke out in Ukraine, many biomass pellet production enterprises have reduced glue purchases; meanwhile, the output is difficult, many wood processing facilities in the area are also operating at a low level.

As at Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry One Member Co., Ltd., there is an inventory of over 4,000 m³wooden products, worth over 30 billion VND; inventory is mainly laminated wood and wood blanks; these items have long been mainly exported to European countries.

Due to output difficulties, the unit has had to stop exploiting acacia for the past 10 days. According to the plan, from now until the end of July, it will exploit over 750 hectares of acacia, equivalent to over 50,000 tons of raw acacia, but currently only over 200 hectares have been exploited.