Development of cooperation around bamboo: Bamboo roadshow Vietnam

During a first working visit In July 2017, a number of contacts were made with prlve operators and knowledge centers that are active or interested in bamboo in both northern and southern parts of Vietnam. At the end of these contacts it became clear that (1) there is a strong interest to produce bamboo, and (2) there are a fair amount of research and practical problems in this country. Yet there is a total lack of mercantlel insight and ambition of product and market development. However, the chances for this are to be grasped. From the conversations and presentations In various lnstitutes, but also on the basis of field visits and direct observation lessons, the potential lnt me, but also an intem- bleal market for bamboo and derived products appears to be enormous. Where loch is already produced for the market, the scale is usually small to limited, the quality of what is supplied is not always high, let alone even in time, while demand and supply (both in terms of quality and quantity) per se are tuned to each and every one (cf. the example of the visit to the factory that supplies charcoal for various applications for the Japanese market: the added value is potentially very big and also the absolute quantity that can be delivered, but still this stagnates due to a lack of well-formed managers, personae !, and modem equipment). In Thanh Hao (NoordVletnam, a few hours drive from Hanoi) a large development plan with objectives, activities and expected results was proposed. In our opinion, the plan (and the Academy for Forestry behind it) provides an excellent basis for bringing together 'providers' and customers and trying to coordinate the potential supply and demand.