Vietnam's forestry has long been structured around cheaply putting out large volumes of thin wood for chips. A plan to rearrange that is getting underway in the north-central region. According to the July 27, 2026 edition of Nong nghiep Moi truong (Agriculture and Environment), Nghe An Province will launch, as a core, a North-Central High-Tech Forestry Application Zone that integrates large-diameter timber grown thick, medicinal and aromatic plants grown in the understory, and a center that mass-produces superior seedlings through tissue culture. For Japan's sourcing and import buyers, this is a story less about the wood itself than about how, over the medium term, the supply base for downstream goods such as essential oils, medicinal materials, and plant-based ingredients will thicken.
Approved by Prime Ministerial Decision No. 746; 618 ha in three sub-zones, with a tissue-culture seedling center at the core
This forestry zone is based on the "Master Plan for the North-Central High-Tech Forestry Application Zone through 2045" approved by Prime Ministerial Decision No. 746 (QD-TTg) dated April 10, 2025. The site is in several communes of Nghi Loc and Do Luong districts in Nghe An Province, comprising three sub-zones with a total area of 618 hectares. The first sub-zone will house a high-tech seedling production center, using tissue culture to research and mass-produce superior seedlings with uniform germination and growth. The tree species grown here will center not on fast-growing wood for chips but on large-diameter timber grown thick and long for building and furniture materials.
1.18 million ha of forestry land, exports of US$230 million a year: the volume is there, but the mechanism to sell high is lacking
Nghe An Province has about 1.18 million hectares of forestry land, among the largest in the country, and maintains forest cover of over 58%. From 2021 to 2025, forestry output grew at an annual average of 7.66%, and exports of wood and forest products reached an annual average of US$227.47 million (about 35.7 billion yen at 157 yen per US dollar). The volume of material is already there. What is lacking is the mechanism to sell that material high. The high-tech forestry zone is designed as the starting point for a shift from volume to quality, raising productivity by improving seedling quality and going after unit price with large-diameter timber and FSC-certified forests.
| Indicator | 2030 target |
|---|---|
| Growth rate of forestry output | Over 8.0% a year |
| Exports of wood and forest products | US$400-500 million a year (about 62.8-78.5 billion yen) |
| Annual afforestation area | Over 22,000 ha |
| Productivity of forest land | 25-30 cubic meters/ha/year |
| FSC-certified forest | Over 70,000 ha |
| Annual log production | 2.2-2.5 million cubic meters |
These are province-level targets that Nghe An Province sets out in line with the forestry-zone plan, and the yen conversion of the export figure is an approximation at a reference rate (157 yen per US dollar). The area of the forestry zone itself can be confirmed as 618 hectares in Decision No. 746.
What Japan should watch is less the wood itself than the medicinal and aromatic plants grown on the forest floor
What the Japanese side should pay attention to in this plan is less the wood itself than the medicinal and aromatic plants grown in the understory. The forest floor has until now been space that generated no revenue. Plant medicinal and aromatic plants there and sell them as essential oils and plant-based materials, and multiple goods come out of the same forest land. In Japan's sourcing of food, cosmetics, and health materials, stable supply sources of essential oils, herbs, and medicinal plants are chronically short, and production areas that earn from medicinal and aromatic plants without felling the forest become an option. The way Lang Son earns from sa nhan (Amomum) without felling the forest case shows, medicinal and aromatic plants on the forest floor directly benefit Japan's ingredient sourcing once supply gets off the ground. The axis is tissue culture, replacing orchid seedlings once dependent on Taiwan with domestic labs the Ho Chi Minh City case of 200,000 a year and, overcoming the barrier of germination rate to raise 30,000 seedlings the Lang Son Province move show, the understanding that whoever holds the seed stock holds the upstream is spreading beyond forestry.
At present it is the planning stage; make contact with the production area before the promising items are fixed
At present, however, it is the planning stage. The plot development of 618 hectares and the launch of the seedling center go first, and the medicinal and aromatic plants of the understory coming out in commercial lots will be after that. The realistic move for the Japanese side is not to buy product now but to track which tree species and which medicinal plants the seedling center narrows down to, and to make contact with the production area early once the promising items are fixed. The north-central region has tended to be thin on Japan's sourcing map compared with the southern Mekong Delta or the Central Highlands, but the thickness of 1.18 million hectares of forestry land cannot be ignored in securing the volume of raw material. If you can enter into dialogue on species selection and quality standards now, at the planning stage, you can team up on better terms than later-arriving buyers.
An FSC-premised design means the production area bears the cost of proof first
Vietnam is a major exporter of processed wood and furniture, but raw thin wood is cheap and the value added has leaned toward the processing and export side. If it turns the rudder toward large-diameter timber, FSC certification, and the combined use of medicinal and aromatic plants, profit will start to remain with the upstream production area. The Nghe An forestry zone becomes a testing ground for trying that structural shift first in the north-central region. If the raising of seedling quality through tissue culture takes effect, the productivity target of 25-30 cubic meters/ha/year will not end as a mere number. For Japan's furniture and building-material industries too, an increase in production areas where certified large-diameter timber is stably grown domestically means the options for log sourcing widen. As import regulations demanding proof of legality and sustainability strengthen worldwide, a production area designed on the premise of FSC certification lightens the buyer's burden to the extent that the production area bears the cost of proof first.
Track the items the seedling center narrows down to, and the commercialization timing of the medicinal plants
The Nghe An high-tech forestry zone is a three-tier setup: growing wood thick, earning from medicinal and aromatic plants on the forest floor, and producing seedlings in-house through tissue culture. What the Japanese sourcing side should watch over the medium term is less the wood itself than the items and volume of plant-based raw materials that come out of this forest floor. Continuously track two points, the items the seedling center narrows down to and the commercialization timing of the medicinal and aromatic plants, and build a relationship with the production area before promising raw materials get off the ground. Whether or not you put a mark now on the new sourcing map of the north-central region will shape the slack in your supply network a few years from now.
Sources
Nong nghiep Moi truong, "The high-tech forestry zone, a new driving force for Nghe An's development" (2026/7/27)
VnEconomy, "Plan for the 618-ha North-Central High-Tech Forestry Zone approved"
Bao Chinh phu, "Approval of the forestry-zone plan by Prime Ministerial Decision No. 746"
