Bac Kan: Making wood processing the main industry

Over the past years, forestry in Bac Kan province has played a very vital role in economic development. Afforestation has become a profession of many Bac Kan households.

Cho Moi district for example, with the advantage of having Thanh Binh Industrial Park located in the district, from just a few factories in the past, there are now dozens of wood processing factories and facilities, all of which are export-oriented. The development of concentrated afforestation and scattered afforestation has been implemented and maintained regularly every year. In 2020, the district planted more than 1,274 hectares of forests; in 2021, afforestation reached over 1,262 hectares, equal to 133% of the year plan.

In the 2016 - 2020 time period, Bac Kan province has oriented its focus on investment and development of advantageous industries such as agro-forestry product processing associated with raw material areas. Bac Kan has had many policies to attract investment and create favorable conditions for all economic sectors to participate in planting and processing.

Currently, Bac Kan province has attracted a number of projects on agricultural and forestry products processing with noticeable scale such as: Bac Kan Wood Processing Factory Project, with a capacity of 120,000 m3 of plywood of all kinds/year of Govina Investment Joint Stock Company; the wood processing project of Lechenwood Vietnam Co., Ltd. with a capacity of 30,000 m3 plywood/year, 200,000 m3 of flooring wood/ year; the investment project on wood production processing with a capacity of 12,000 m3 of plywood products/year, 3,000 m3 of joist board products/year of Hong Ngoc Production and Trading Co., Ltd; wood export factory of Ke Go Joint Stock Company…

The projects have been put into relatively stable production, creating a number of key industrial products, contributing to the increase in value of industrial production in the area, stabilizing the future for Bac Kan’s forest growers.

Ms. Do Thi Minh Hoa, Vice Chairman of Bac Kan Provincial People's Committee emphasized: The locality has determined that the province's industrial sector in the next 5 years (in the period of 2021 - 2025) will give priority to the development of agro-forestry product processing industry.

Accordingly, Bac Kan has currently formed a very large material area and afforestation has become a movement among the people. The current processing brought about initial results, however, the production scale has not yet met all the wood materials demand of the people. Bac Kan's raw wood still has to be traded outside the province in the form of raw materials with a fairly large proportion.

Therefore, in orientation for the upcoming future, Bac Kan province gives priority to the development of forest product processing and many solutions have been proposed. The first solution is to focus on utilizing state budget capital for investment in industrial clusters in localities, such as Ba Be, Cho Don and Na Ri.

"With the formation of industrial clusters in the province, this will be an opportunity and solution to attract investors in the field of agro-forestry product processing, especially prioritizing the processing of forest products to accomplish the goal of processing the most materials wood for exploitation of planted forests in Bac Kan province. Consequently, reducing and minimizing the need to sell raw products such as logs and peeled wood with cheap prices outside of the locality, thereby improving the value and bringing the highest income to the people." Ms. Do Thi Minh Hoa, Vice Chairman of Bac Kan Provincial People's Committee.