Adding value to handicrafts (11/07)
06/08/2010 - 61 Lượt xem
Lower-than-expected performance
Statistics from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) indicate that there are 2,700 craft villages through Vietnam, with 1,200 of them relying on handicraft production as a subsistence trade.
Dinh Manh Hung, director of the Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Center of VCCI, says a majority of craft villages in the country still utilize the production method that has been hundreds of years old.
Current handicraft designs are not of higher creative value than in the past, so they look monotonous. To fulfill export contracts, craftsmen have had to use the designs supplied by foreign customers.
Vietnamese handicrafts are mainly exported to market segments that can afford low prices. Meanwhile, China has been able to penetrate foreign medium- and high-end markets.
Last year saw the local handicraft sector gaining total export sales of US$662mil, 1.6% of the country's exports. The groups of major foreign exchange earning items are rattan and bamboo with US$192mil, decorative potteries and porcelains with US$274mil, and artistic stones and precious metals with US$164mil.
Hung says such an export figure fails to reflect the history of the age-old handicraft sector.
But with measures taken to spur the sector's growth, the future outlook is bright. "With annual export growth of 20-25% and skills of handicraft workers improved, the sector will achieve export sales of US$1.5bil in three years' time," Hung says at a ceremony held in the southern province of Dong Nai early this month to launch Golden V 2007, an annual handicraft design contest.
Export promotion
Golden V was initiated by VCCI in 2004 as part of a handicraft export promotion project financially and technically sponsored by leading local companies and international organizations like Jica, Japan External Trade Organizations (Jetro), Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), Naftatrade.com, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
| The deadline for sending entries to the Golden V handicraft design competition is September 15 and the results will be announced in mid-November. There will be one first prize worth VND10mil, two second prizes of VND5mil each, three VND3-mil third prizes and 10 consolation prizes valued at VND2mil each. For more information and registration, visit the website at www.vgold.com.vn |
In the previous three contests, 706 contenders sent in 1,539 entries and many winning designs have been put into practical use.
Tran Quoc Manh, vice chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC (Hawa) and member of the Golden V organizing committee, says the contest is a good way taken by VCCI to help handicraft producers add value to their products through design improvements.
"For handicrafts, designs can increase their value by three to four times," Manh says. "If local handicrafts enter foreign medium-end markets then this will be a success."
Source: SGT
