Vietnam’s plantation timber supply chain: good practices to promote legal and sustainable timber products

Globally, forest plantation has become an important source for timber production and trade, and household tree growers, often smallholders, play a critical role in timber production. In Vietnam, plantations of Acacia spp. have emerged as an important resource for the Vietnamese forestry industry and exports, while supporting the rural economy and generating income for rural households. On the other hand, timber export from Vietnam includes a large number of small producers and small businesses, which makes the supply chains more complex or layered, and makes it challenging for importers to identify the legal origin of timber products. Against this backdrop, this report aims to promote legal and sustainable timber trade by identifying good practices of Vietnamese timber producers and companies to support due diligence and by generating recommendations for stakeholders in import countries. In this study, good practices are considered as models/measures that support legal and sustainable timber trade by enhancing transparency of the supply chain, traceability of products, and support a verifiable basis for legal claims.