Acacia prices fall, forest growers suffer losses

(Baohatinh.vn) - Thousands of hectares of planted forests in Ha Tinh were damaged and had to be exploited immediately, but the market is "picky", prices are low, costs are increasing, causing forest growers to suffer losses in all aspects.

Because the trees have withered, people in My Phu village (Cam Due commune) have to work hard to peel the acacia bark to import it to chip-making facilities in the province.

After storm No. 5, Mr. Nguyen Van Nghe in My Son village (Cam Due commune) had 4 hectares of 7-year-old acacia forest planted on contracted land in sub-area 299 - Ke Go Nature Reserve damaged about 90%. 2 days ago, he started harvesting. To speed up the progress, Mr. Nghe had to hire 16 more people, but because the trees were broken and scattered, he could only cut about 3-4 trucks (about 10 tons/truck) per day. Up to this point, he has only cut 0.5 hectares and is expected to finish harvesting in about 15 days. In addition to broken trees, he also suffered many other losses due to slow harvesting and rapid tree damage...

Mr. Nguyen Van Nghe sighed: “Along with the damage caused by the storm, the trees on the hill have withered and lost water for a long time, so the initial expected output was about 560 tons, but now it is only about 300 tons. Along with the output decreasing by 40-50%, the current price of acacia is low and we have to bear other additional costs when labor costs increase, need more people than usual, and the exploitation time is longer, so we are at a loss on all sides…”.

People in My Son village (Cam Due) sell damaged acacia after the storm.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Director of Ke Go Nature Reserve said: “We have built a dossier and plan to recover the forest after the storm and have been allowed by the Provincial Forest Protection Department to exploit 382 hectares out of a total of 4,679 hectares of damaged planted forest; these are areas that have collapsed over 70%, the damaged areas will have a plan to handle later. The unit and the contracted households are urgently speeding up the progress of recovering the newly approved area, but facing many difficulties, the plan to complete before December 31, 2025 is difficult to complete”.

Not only the contracted forests but also the forests of households are in a similar situation. Mr. Tran Van Toan in Phu Mau village (Loc Ha commune) said: "My family has about 2 hectares of 4-year-old acacia and 30-year-old casuarina planted at the foot of Bang Son mountain that have fallen down. I intended to cut them down and sell them with the hope of recovering some capital for re-production, but no one came to buy them, so I had to leave them as they are."

People of Loc Ha commune check the damaged forest at the foot of Bang Son mountain before calling traders to sell.

Mr. Le Ngoc Dung - owner of a facility purchasing acacia and cajuput in Cam Hung commune informed: "At this time, on average, I sell about 300 - 400 tons of goods per day; forest growers everywhere call to invite purchase, asking for consumption to reduce risks and losses. As a person specializing in purchasing acacia and cajuput, I understand the losses of people because up to this point, only about 30 - 40% (for forests 4 - 6 years old), 50 - 60% (for forests over 7 years old), under 4 years old is considered wasted. If the situation of being exposed to the ground for a long time and exploitation is slow, the damage rate will increase because the characteristics of these tree species are very susceptible to damage after falling and breaking"

“Currently, the trees have dried up so they cannot be peeled. The purchasing facilities in the province are picky and have to transport them to factories outside Nghe An , leading to increased transportation costs and thus the purchasing price has dropped. Before the storm, the price of acacia reached nearly 1.2 million VND/ton, but now it is only 900,000 VND/ton and the purchasing facilities have announced that they will reduce the price 1-2 more times in the near future. This has caused people to suffer double losses, many households are losing money and do not have enough money to reproduce,” added Mr. Le Ngoc Dung.

After the storm, the supply is abundant, and acacia purchasing facilities are operating at full capacity.

Storm No. 5 damaged 28,300 hectares of planted forests in Ha Tinh , of which about 1/4 of the area was damaged by over 50% and needed to be harvested for new planting. Currently, forest owners are focusing on exploitation to minimize damage, but with this situation, they are suffering "double losses". Therefore, people are hoping that the province will direct the chip purchasing facilities in the area to maintain the purchase price and increase the speed of importing raw materials like previous big storms; at the same time, request some state forest owners to speed up the progress of building documents for areas planted on protective land to "salvage" a little bit of property.

Mr. Le Huu Tuan - Head of the Forest Protection and Development Department (Provincial Forest Protection Department) said: "Currently, forest owners are speeding up the progress of harvesting to minimize damage and soon re-produce. To support people, the unit has promptly advised the Department of Agriculture and Environment to issue a document guiding forest owners to harvest and exploit planted forests after storm No. 5. The Department also urged, coordinated, and guided to assess the situation, build documents, and approve exploitation plans for protected forest areas invested by households themselves. We will continue to monitor the situation, accompany people and forest owners in harvesting and re-producing after natural disasters."

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/keo-rot-gia-nguoi-trong-rung-thua-thiet-post295555.html