Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam’s fine art andhandicraft exports experienced a significant increase of 50 percent to reach 45million USD in May, according to statistics from the General Department ofCustoms. 

The latest addition has brought the exportturnover of these products to 190 million USD in the first five months of 2019,up 43 percent year-on-year, the data shows.

These positive figures were attributable to abooming demand of handicraft products, especially those made from bamboo,rattan and leaves, in the global market, according to the Handicraft and WoodIndustry Association of HCM City (Hawa) as saying.

For example, more and more retirees in Europeancountries are decorating their houses, resulting in high demand for handicraftproducts, Hawa said, adding that the proportion of people who boughthandicrafts as gifts has also increased.

According to Hawa, there remains huge potentialfor Vietnamese fine art and handicraft producers to accelerate their exports tooverseas markets including major outlets such as the US, the EU and Japan andemerging ones like India, Thailand, Taiwan, Russia, Norway and Chile.

The association also forecast that the nation’sexports of fine art and handicraft would likely reach 500 million USD by theend of this year.

Despite great potential to grow, the domesticfine arts and handicraft industry faces several challenges including the lackof creativity in Vietnamese designs and the shortage of professionally traineddesigners, trade experts have said.

According to the Vietnam Handicrafts Association(Vietcraft), around 90 percent of Vietnamese handicraft products were made tosuit the technical designs of importers and were not made under Vietnameselabels.

Dang Quoc Hung, director of a handicraft companyin the southern province of Dong Nai, said most Vietnamese handicraftmanufacturers only focused on outsourcing to foreign clients.Though receiving abundant orders, local handicraft makers made modestprofits due to increasing input costs.

According to the Ministry of Industry andTrade's Trade Promotion Agency, handicraft producers should pay attention todesign and branding. The practicality of craft products along with theirdecoration should also be a focus. 

As studying the tastes of customers, especiallyforeign ones, required great effort and funding, the firms shouldparticipate in prestigious fairs and exhibitions both domestically andoverseas. 

They could also learn about foreigncustomers' tastes in Vietnam by using surveys on whichproducts international customers preferred to purchase at thecountry's famous tourist destinations such as Hanoi, Sa Pa, Da Nang, HoiAn, Hue and HCM City, the agency said. 

Furthermore, businesses should utilisee-commerce to better introduce their products to importers and individualcustomers and boost their revenues, it added.-VNS/VNA