Nghe An takes advantage of opportunities to accelerate forest economic development

Great potential

Nghe An has the largest forest and forestry land area in the country. The whole province currently has 1.008 million hectares of forest land, including 173.9 thousand hectares of forest and 45.84 thousand hectares of planted but not yet forested areas; 788.99 thousand hectares of natural forest; the coverage by 2021 reached 58.41%. Nghe An is assessed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as one of the provinces with the best and largest forest coverage in the country.

In recent years, thanks to theForest economic development promotion projectTherefore, the area of ​​planted forests has increased quite rapidly, with an average of 18 thousand hectares of concentrated forests planted each year in the whole province. Based on the existing forest area, in addition to the factories producing and processing raw wood and raw chip materials in Nam Cam, Dong Hoi, Nghia Dan, and Thanh Chuong industrial parks, in the past 5 years, the province has planned and attracted projects to process wood into biomass pellets with a total capacity of nearly 1 million tons of raw materials per year.

To provide raw materials for the above factories, the province has planned and guided the procedures for granting sustainable forest management certificates (FSC) for a total area of ​​10,289 hectares for forest owners, of which the planted forest area is 9,450 hectares.

Exploiting raw acacia wood in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Leading the way is the Thanh Chuong Trading and Timber Company in association with forest owner groups in Ngoc Son, Thanh Son, Thanh Thinh, Thanh An and Thanh Huong communes with an area of ​​3,763 hectares; followed by Thanh Hoa Company Limited in association with forest owner groups in Chau Binh and Quy Chau communes with an area of ​​2,886 hectares; An Viet Phat Cooperative with forest planting groups in Dong Thanh and Thinh Thanh (Yen Thanh) with an area of ​​nearly 2,000 hectares; Khanh Tam Company has nearly 1,000 hectares in Que Phong. Le Duy Nguyen forest planting enterprise in Quynh Loc, Quynh Lap (Hoang Mai Town) with 820 hectares.

In addition, there are currently about 13,000 planted forests in Anh Son, Que Phong, Thanh Chuong and Nghi Loc districts that are in the process of being assessed and certified for forest certification in the near future.

Caring for the first-generation forest trees at the North Central Institute of Science and Technology. Photo: Phu Huong

Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam - Chairman of the Provincial Timber and Forest Products Processing Association said: With such great forest potential, each year the supply of wood output to the market is nearly 2 million m³Timber and other minor forest products; annual export value reaches approximately 300 million USD and is one of the three main export items of the province (along with textiles and white stone).

Although the value is large, compared to the current price of raw materials and the country's wood export turnover of 14 billion USD/year, the contribution of Nghe An forest products is still too modest, not reflecting the true potential and economic value of the province's forests.

Biomass Company's wood pellet production project at VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park. Photo: Nguyen Hai

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, not counting other types of wood materials such as wood chips and MDF plywood, which are all on the rise, the price of biomass pellets in Europe has doubled. Currently, out of nearly 2 million m³Annual wood sales, we mainly sell wood chips, MDF raw plywood so the added value is not significant.

Meanwhile,biomass pellet productshigh value, European, American, Japanese, Korean markets have great demand, popular but output is less than 500 thousand tons/year; input materials must come from FSC certified forest areas so it is difficult to suddenly increase capacity.

Previously, hybrid acacia trees were sold as wood chips only for the core, but now, with the production of biomass pellets, the bark, leaves, sawdust, and wood chips can all be utilized. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai - Head of Forest Development and Protection Department, Nghe An Forest Protection Department added: Nghe An's strength has long been exporting fine art wood products. The raw material crisis in Europe has increased the export of biomass pellets and wood chips. Previously, the price of acacia was only 900 - 1 million VND/ton, now it has increased to 1.2 - 1.3 million VND/ton, but the export of fine art wood has stagnated.

How to make the most of the opportunity?

In his most recent working session with Nghe An, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien shared: The Russia-Ukraine military conflict has pushed the world economy to face many risks. One of the obvious risks is that the world is prone to food crisis, and the price of input fuels for production such as electricity, biomass coal, and gasoline is increasing.

Vietnam is one of the world's leading food exporters, so on the one hand, it must review to ensure domestic food security, but on the other hand, it must also take advantage of this opportunity to exploit its advantages and potential to promote the export of products that are strong and in demand in the world.

Checking MDF plywood products in Nghia Dan. Currently, the price of finished plywood has increased slightly but the economic value is still not equal to biomass pellets. Photo: Van Truong

As a province with strengths in planted forests, Nghe An has 4-5 large-scale wood biomass pellet production projects using modern Japanese and European technology, so it is necessary to exploit this advantage well. In addition to the main raw materials such as hybrid acacia, eucalyptus, etc., the province should exploit and maintain the area of ​​rubber trees, although the latex price is low, the exploitation of wood is very good. Although quite positive, the fact that the province only has over 10 thousand hectares out of a total of 219.8 thousand hectares of planted forests certified by FSC is quite low (accounting for 4.68%).

(Representative of the Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai - Head of Development and Protection Department, Provincial Forest Protection Department said:FSC forest certificationThere is a very strict process, roadmap, and methodical evaluation criteria, so it is impossible to rush or rush the process. Currently, although the price of biomass pellets has increased, the price of input wood materials is pre-contracted, and each project has a separate FSC-certified raw material forest area, so there has not been a big fluctuation.

Biomass pellets processed from wood and forest by-products are popular in the European market with prices ranging from 1,780 to 1,820 USD/ton, which is a great opportunity for sustainable forest economic development projects. Photo: Nguyen Hai

The biggest difficulty in granting FSC forest certification is the legal documents. To grant forest certification, the legal documents must be clear, with the owner being granted a land use right certificate. The source of seedlings must also be from a legal facility; forest care must follow technical standards, ensuring labor safety... To complete this document, in addition to human resources and time, depending on the land origin documents, the cost ranges from 500,000 to 1 million VND/ha. Most of the planted forest area is currently managed by the Protection Forest Management Board or Forest Enterprises, so the documents are quite complicated, making operating costs difficult.

From 2022, the Provincial People's Council has Resolution No. 18 to support forest owners with 300,000 VND/ha to complete certification procedures. Up to now, 21/22 state forest owners have been supported...

Nghe An provincial leaders witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement on raw material supply between the forest owner and Biomass Fuel Vietnam Company at VSIP Industrial Park. Photo: Quang An

The representative of the provincial Forest Protection Department said: The advantage of forests with FSC certification is that the output for products is always guaranteed and the price is stable. In the near future, if the price of pellets increases, forest owners can negotiate with businesses and purchasing factories to adjust the contract appendix to ensure their rights. Regarding the annual financial support for maintaining FSC certification, the Department will receive and grasp the recommendations of forest owners to submit to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for additional recommendations in the near future.