HÀ NỘI — As two of the world's top three furniture exporters, Việt Nam and Poland have significant potential and opportunities to work together in furniture manufacturing supply chains.

Việt Nam and Poland have furniture export turnovers of approximately US$3.7 billion and $3 billion, respectively, according to data from the trade data analytics organisation OEC.

However, in addition to its furniture manufacturing and export industries, Poland also boasts a world-class industry producing machinery and equipment for forestry and wood processing. This creates considerable potential for the two countries to cooperate in developing supply chains for furniture manufacturing.

Although both countries are among the world’s leading furniture producers, their furniture industries are not directly competitive due to differences in product categories and end-user markets.

More importantly, their respective manufacturing capabilities offer complementary strengths that could help unlock greater cooperation potential.

As a developed industrial country with a sizeable agricultural sector, Poland manufactures a wide range of advanced machinery and equipment serving the entire production process, from forestry harvesting and processing to wood manufacturing and product finishing.

Polish agricultural and forestry equipment is already used in markets around the world, but remains relatively unfamiliar in Southeast Asia. Polish manufacturers hope Việt Nam can serve as a gateway for Polish products to access the wider regional market. The effective operation of Polish machinery in Việt Nam, they said, would also serve as a powerful showcase for the quality of Polish equipment across Southeast Asia.

At the same time, with one of Europe’s largest areas of planted forests, Poland could potentially serve as a source of raw materials and input components for Việt Nam’s furniture industry, the Vietnam Trade Office in Poland said at a sideline forum during the international trade fair on wood and furniture industries in Poland this month.

At the event, experts and enterprises from Việt Nam and Poland discussed the outlook and opportunities to promote bilateral cooperation in expanding the furniture production supply chain.

Representatives of leading Polish manufacturers of agricultural and forestry machinery, including Pronar and Unia, have expressed strong interest in Việt Nam’s potential in both furniture manufacturing and mechanical engineering and manufacturing.

As a result, alongside efforts to promote sales of machinery and production lines for timber harvesting and processing, these companies are also exploring opportunities to partner with Vietnamese businesses to invest in manufacturing and assembly, with a view to transferring technology for selected types of machinery serving the regional market. — VNS