VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has revised the list of wood products approved for export so that Lao furniture makers can more easily sell their goods in local and overseas markets.
The ministry has specified three main categories of wood product - planted wood products, natural wood products, and rattan and bamboo products.
All products made from plantation wood, such as teak, eucalyptus, rubber, kathin nalong and kathin thepha, can be exported, including processed and non-processed goods, according to the revised list of wood products (No. 0939/MoIC) eligible for export that was issued on August 1.
Agarwood should be exported in the form of crushed or chipped wood while other commercially grown wood should be processed according to size under the ministry’s directions, on the lines of natural wood products, before export.
The new decision replaces the one issued on January 3, 2018 (No. 0002/MoIC) which resulted in Lao wood and furniture makers facing major challenges in selling their products to foreign buyers after the government defined the size of wood and furniture products for export.
Natural wood products, including banned wood, special wood and managed wood, have been cleared for export, including wooden briquettes and pellets, wooden parquet and interior flooring, wooden charcoal, wall and ceiling panels, plywood, wooden handles, builders’ joinery, articles of wooden furniture, wooden floor decking, and truck body joinery.
Rattan wood products cleared for export include rattan furniture, rattan plaiting products and other finished rattan and bamboo products such as furniture and accessories made of bamboo, bamboo plaiting and small bamboo.
The ministry expressed the hope that the new decision would help wood sellers and furniture makers in Laos to more easily export their products.
After the PM’s Order No, 15 was implemented, foreign customers, especially Chinese buyers, still expressed interest in wood and furniture products from Laos but the sizes of export products as defined by the Lao government did not meet their needs, according to the Lao Furniture Association.
The issue became a big problem for wood and furniture business operators, who are also struggling to obtain funding for their business operations.
To solve this problem, the Lao Furniture Association, which represents wood sellers and furniture makers in Laos, asked the government to improve the rules and regulations.
