In Vietnam, the NWFP-sector as a whole, including cultivation, collecting, trading and processing, gives employment to hundreds of thousand of people (Van Tien, 1991: 14).
A significant part of the NWFPs harvested are entering the home market for direct consumption or for use in industries which produce for the homemarket. The overall economy of Vietnam is in rapid transition, characterized by the decentralization of control and liberalization of trade and industry. As a consequence more diversified trade channels can be used by producers and customers.
A considerable part of Vietnams NWFP-export is in fact re-export from Laos and Cambodia (e.g. eaglewood). The export trade is in the hands of a few state and provincial companies and numerous small private traders. Until recently, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were the main export destinations for a large number of NWFPs. Trade was based on barter and quality standards demanded in this trade were low. Since the collapse of the Soviet economy, Vietnam is turning to other markets. In fact, the official export to China and a number of other destinations were on the increase already well before the collapse of the Soviet market.
Now Hongkong, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and France are becoming increasingly important customers for NWFPs from Vietnam. China is at the same time an important importer of NWFPs, as well as a major competitor on the world market for products, such as essential oils. Thailand, in the last decade, changed from a country exporting a range of NWFPs into an importer from Indochina. In order to be able to penetrate other 'new' markets a constant effort to keep up quality standards will be needed.
At present, world market prices for raw materials such as spices and essential oils are generally low as a result of a structural oversupply from producer countries and the current recession in North America and Europe. This is particularly true for products which are easily cultivated. On the other hand, the growing demand for natural products in the industrialized countries opens new markets for some specific products. For labour intensive products, such as pine resin, Vietnam has the advantage of comparatively cheap labour.
In the past Indochina as a whole enjoyed a special position on the world market as a supplier of NWFPs. Now, while the Indochinese countries are trying to re-establish international trade links, it should be possible to win back at least a share of their former markets. This obviously will be a long term operation.
Laos is also in the process of liberalizing its economy. A specific problem for Laos is that, being landlocked, it suffers from particular high transport costs for exports.
Although the actual capacity for processing NWFPs in Laos is limited, the NWFP based industry is nevertheless of importance vis a vis the smallness of the national industry as a whole. It includes rattan for the domestic and export market, pharmaceuticals for the domestic market, essential oils (eaglewood and star anise), and the distillation of pine resin for the export market.
Cambodia is at present exporting a range of NWFPs to Vietnam and Thailand. It has no processing capacity of its own. A major problem is that many of the forests where NWFPs used to be collected, are infested with landmines.