Illustrative image. (Photo: nongnghiep.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – With the trend of green consumption, thedemand for wood pallets will continue to rise in the future, experts said.
According to Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of Phu Tai Bioenergy JSC in the south central province of Binh Dinh, Vietnam currently hasmore than 80 companies specialising in the production and export of wood pallets.
Companies located in the central region mainly export their products to theJapanese market, while those in the south ship to the Republicof Korea.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has disrupted the gas supply fromRussia to European countries, thus providing a chance for wood pallets from Vietnamto enter the European market, he told Nong Nghiep Viet Nam [Vietnam Agriculture] newspaper.
Phong said in the long term, Vietnamese companies plan to useother input materials than wood from planted forests, adding that they plan to use elephant grass,a tufted perennial grass that can grow in stands up to 4m high, as a raw material in the production of woodchips,he said.
He went on to say that if elephant grass is effectivelyused as a raw material for the production of wood pallets, the industry will nolonger worry about the raw materials and farmers’ income will be improved aswell.
Masayoshi Pelle Ito, deputy director of the energy and chemicaldivision of Itochu Vietnam Co. Ltd, said the exports of wood pellets to Japan have increasedin recent years.
In 2021, Vietnam exported 1.6 million tonnes of wood pellets toJapan and the figure rose to 2.5 million tonnes last year. It is expected toreach 4-5 tonnes from 2025, he said.
Masayoshi noted that the world tends to use wood pellets toreplace coal in thermal power generation to reduce carbon emissions, thus, thedemand for wood pellets will be extremely high in the future./.
