Handicraft products from coconut wood are environmentally friendly

While many young people left their hometown to look for new job opportunities, Mr. Le Thanh Trien “went against the tide” when he left the city to return to his hometown of Quang Thuy (Ba Don Town) to start a business. Up to now, not only specializing in chopsticks, Mr. Trien also produces a variety of handicraft products from coconut wood, such as toothpick tubes, wine ladles, orchid baskets…, attracting domestic and foreign consumers.

There used to be a thriving business producing high-quality wooden chopsticks in the city. Ho Chi Minh City, but with the desire to create jobs and increase income for many idle workers in his hometown, in 2018, Mr. Le Thanh Trien decided to return to his hometown to open a factory.

With the guidance and help of the local government, in 2018, the Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Production, Business and Trading Cooperative (Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Cooperative) was established with him as director. According to Mr. Trien, when first established, the cooperative encountered many difficulties, but the most difficult was product output. Because in the past, his facility produced mainly high-end chopsticks. Now when he returns to his hometown, he starts with popular chopsticks products, so finding an outlet is very difficult. However, after a year or two, his products became known to many consumers, and orders increased.

To improve business efficiency, he boldly borrowed capital to invest in modern technological equipment to serve the production stages. In particular, based on his own understanding and research on social networking sites, Mr. Trien has manufactured chopstick sharpening machines and high-end wooden chopstick making machines to effectively serve operations at the facility. , at the same time, helping a number of small chopstick manufacturers improve production and increase income.

Mr. Le Thanh Trien and handicraft products from coconut wood.

Up to now, the Quang Thuy wooden chopsticks brand has been well received by domestic and foreign markets with many products from high-end to affordable. High-end handicraft wooden chopsticks made from horn, bone, pearl, conch… with high aesthetic value and good quality of Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Cooperative are currently the only product in TX. Ba Don was upgraded to 4-star OCOP standards at the provincial level.

When wooden chopstick products were in production orbit, in 2020, realizing that there were many ancient coconut trees in the area, Mr. Trien had the idea of producing fine art products from coconuts. Because you know, coconut products are environmentally friendly, easy to decompose, and not as harmful as plastic waste. In particular, coconut wood material is durable, hard, low cost, suitable for many consumers’ budgets.

Mr. Trien said: Coconut handicrafts are made a lot in Ben Tre province but are often used for decoration and beautification, few establishments produce items in daily life. Currently, the world is in crisis because of plastic waste, so I had the idea of producing household goods from coconut wood instead of products made from plastic and metal materials. The products produced by the cooperative from coconut wood and brought to the market today are toothpick tubes, wine ladles, orchid growing baskets…

Sharing about the process of making products from coconut wood, Mr. Trien said: To process coconut wood into chopsticks, it must go through many stages. Initially, to prevent coconut wood from being damaged or gnawed by termites, it must be soaked in water for about 30 days. After soaking, each log is put into a cutting machine to remove excess parts, cut into pieces, and then cut to the correct size for the products. The final step is to put it into the machine to create the finished product, then clean it, package it and sell it to the market.

To ensure safe use of coconut household goods, the products made by the cooperative do not use paint or preservatives at all, but are only naturally polished with fabric sandpaper, so they are very safe for food. High-end fine art wooden chopsticks are very artistic and eye-catching. They can be considered small works of art that can be used, displayed, and loved by customers.

Currently, the cooperative’s main export market is China… On average, each month, the cooperative produces nearly 20,000 coconut shells, 300,000 pairs of chopsticks and tens of thousands of toothpick bottles and orchid planting baskets.

According to Mr. Trien, coconut wood products are well received by customers because they are very environmentally friendly. In addition, coconut wood has the ability to withstand oil, has a moderate wood weight, and is water resistant, so when used it does not get moldy, the wood grain is very beautiful and does not fade over time. Coconut wood products always retain their original shiny beauty. Currently, the set of wooden chopsticks and coconut handicraft products of Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Cooperative are certified to meet OCOP 3-star standards at the provincial level and most recently, are typical rural industrial products (CNNTTB) at the regional level. Central and Central Highlands in 2022.

With the “segment” of high-end products meeting 4-star OCOP standards and the “popular” product set meeting 3-star OCOP standards, produced from local raw materials, it will be a “golden opportunity” for products to The cooperative’s reach is not only in the domestic market but also aims to export strongly to other markets such as Korea, Japan, America…

“Currently, the revenue of Quang Thuy wooden chopsticks cooperative reaches 6.5 billion VND, earning a profit of more than 700 million VND per year; Providing regular jobs for 20 local workers with an average income of 6-8 million VND/month and about 30 seasonal workers working at home. In the coming time, the cooperative will continue to produce more products from coconut wood, such as: rice bowls, tea sets, ashtrays…; Continue to invest and expand factories to increase income and create conditions for creating jobs for local workers; ready to transfer technology to young people with the will to start a business in the province,” Mr. Trien added.

Thanh Hoa