In Gia Lai province in Vietnam's Central Highlands, a seedling-nursery operator shipping more than 21 million forestry seedlings a year was named an "Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer of 40 Years of Doi Moi." It is the case of Thai Xuan Bien (born 1986), reported by the local paper Dan Viet in September 2026, a corporate-scale operation employing about 160 people. What it raises is hybrid acacia and eucalyptus seedlings. Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of wood chips, and Japan is one of its main destinations. What is happening upstream of the chips that become pulp raw material is not a distant story for Japan's paper and materials procurement. Let us look at nursery work, the very top of the stream, from a procurement standpoint.
A nursery operator shipping 21 million seedlings a year becomes an outstanding farmer
Thai Xuan Bien runs a forestry-seedling nursery in Gia Lai province using more than 60,000 square meters of land. Annual shipments exceed 21 million seedlings, with a survival rate (the proportion that take root after planting) of 95% or more. What he raises are fast-growing, timber-suited improved strains such as eucalyptus hybrids (AH7, BV16, AH1, BV523) and white-bark types (U6, Giant 3229).
According to Dan Viet, the business's growth is steep. Sales expanded from VND 4.276 billion in 2023 (about JPY 25.2 million) to VND 21.962 billion in 2025 (about JPY 130 million). Net profit in 2025 was VND 7.093 billion (about JPY 41.8 million), and total assets reached VND 25.927 billion (about JPY 153 million). Full-time employees number about 160. The seedlings are supplied not only within Gia Lai province but to Nghe An, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Phu Yen, Dong Nai, Ba Ria–Vung Tau and elsewhere.
Why nursery work is the starting point of the forestry supply network
The quality of a plantation is largely decided by the first seedling. A low survival rate adds the labor and cost of replanting, and choosing a slow-growing strain extends the years to felling. A nursery operator that can supply improved strains stably at a high survival rate shapes the efficiency of the planting, felling and processing that follow. Bien's survival rate of 95% or more and scale of 21 million seedlings show he is an entity that supports the region's planting cycle from the bottom.
Fast-growing acacia and eucalyptus are planted as short-rotation timber harvestable in about five to seven years, much of it processed into wood chips and pellets. Nursery work is the very top of this stream. The better the quality and quantity of seedlings are in place, the easier it is for planting efficiency to rise. Planting area and the turnover of felling are also swayed by land, price, felling regulations and demand, but a stable supply of good seedlings is the foundation.
Bien's nursery operation in numbers
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Gia Lai province (Central Highlands) |
| Annual shipments | More than 21 million seedlings |
| Survival rate | 95% or more |
| Main strains | Improved eucalyptus (AH7/BV16, etc.) and white-bark types |
| Site area | Over 60,000 sq m |
| Sales (2023 → 2025) | VND 4.276 billion → VND 21.962 billion (about JPY 25.2 million → about JPY 130 million) |
| Net profit (2025) | VND 7.093 billion (about JPY 41.8 million) |
| Employees | About 160 |
The issues this case reveals
From the reported facts, three issues can be drawn out. The first is that the plain process of nursery work can become highly profitable. Even without a flashy crop, balancing quality and scale makes it viable as a foundational business. The figure of sales growing about five-fold in two years shows that upside.
The second is employment. About 160 full-time jobs become a large catch basin in a rural Central Highlands area. The third is the weight of strain selection and quality management. Whether fast-growing, timber-suited improved strains can be supplied at a high survival rate shapes a region's competitiveness. A rise in the quality of nursery work is believed to ripple through to the quality of the planting and processing that follow.
Implications for Japanese materials and procurement staff
Japan imports large volumes of wood chips from Vietnam, making it an important raw-material source for pulp and paper. Nursery operators are not direct trading partners, but it is worth grasping that the quality and quantity of the chips and pellets Japan buys are supported by this upstream nursery work and planting. Improved strains spreading at a high survival rate is one factor that thickens the planting base. Planting area itself is also swayed by land and demand, but if a supply of good seedlings continues, the outlook for chip raw material becomes easier to set.
In practice, when procuring wood chips or biomass pellets, a view that looks at how well a region's planting base is in place is effective. From the standpoints of legal timber (such as the Clean Wood Act) and sustainability too, regions that can trace the history from seedling through planting to felling are easier to evaluate. Regions that can trace the history of nursery work and planting more readily meet such requirements. Relatedly, the case of a Hue grower named an outstanding national farmer through 40 years devoted to acacia and and the multi-layer cultivation of pineapple under acacia earning income in Quang Ngai show the spread of region-building anchored on forestry.
Ripple effects on the market
The value addition of nursery work also changes how the seedling business itself is seen. A business that supplies improved strains stably sits upstream within agriculture, and unlike crops with volatile prices, its demand is easier to read. The flow in which upstream investment becomes a region's underlying strength is common in the food field too. Lao Cai's medicinal-plant ordinance, subsidizing up to VND 5 billion per case from seedling through processing, also rests on the same idea of building value from the raw-material stage.
Summary: trace the raw material back to the very top of the stream and verify
What Gia Lai's nursery business shows is the view that the key to quality and stability lies at the very top of the supply network. The next move for staff in Japan handling wood chips, pellets or Vietnamese primary raw materials is to trace one step further up the stream of a growing region—its nursery and planting base—and verify the firmness of supply. An eye that asks not only for a processed-goods price list but also which nursery the raw material began from raises the precision of sustainable procurement.
