EUDR compliance becomes mandatory for Vietnam’s wood industry at the end of 2025, and it is both a significant challenge and an opportunity to improve the sustainable supply chain.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade recently coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to organise the workshop “Market Diversification Strategy: From Risk to Opportunity”, a key event within Vietnam International Sourcing 2025, attracting management agencies, industry associations, businesses and international partners.
Mr. Huynh Le Dai Thang, Member of the Executive Committee of the Handicraft and Wood Processing Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) shared at the workshop.
What EUDR Compliance Requires From Wood Exporters
Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Huynh Le Dai Thang, Member of the Executive Committee of HAWA and Director of Nghia Son Furniture Company Limited, said the wood industry is one of Vietnam’s export pillars, with annual turnover of about 15 billion USD. However, wood and furniture businesses now face increasingly stringent requirements from import markets, especially on sustainable development, green production and responsible consumption.
From 30 December 2025, all wood products exported to the EU must comply with the EUDR Regulation, including traceability and a commitment that the goods have not caused deforestation or forest degradation since 31 December 2020.
This means the timber supply chain must demonstrate compliance with the law at the place of production and hold transparent traceability documents. Failure to do so could result in goods being rejected or even destroyed by EU customs.
In practice, the documentation runs deeper than a certificate. An operator placing goods on the EU market has to hold geolocation data for the plot where the timber was harvested, evidence of legal harvesting under the producing country’s own law, and a due diligence statement covering the whole chain from that plot to the finished product. Each link that cannot be evidenced breaks the chain, and a broken chain is treated as non-compliance rather than as a paperwork gap to be corrected later.
Why Small and Medium Enterprises Are Most Exposed
Mr. Thang said HAWA currently has more than 600 members. Calculated to July 2025, after the merger of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, membership will rise to thousands of enterprises, of which more than 90% are small and medium-sized. Although many have prepared proactively since two years ago, many others remain uncertain.
This is a worrying risk, as not everyone in the business community is fully aware of the strict standards of the import market. HAWA is working to support and train members so they understand and implement the requirements in time.
The imbalance is structural rather than a matter of effort. EUDR compliance carries a fixed cost, in systems, documentation and staff time, that does not shrink with company size. A manufacturer shipping a few containers a year absorbs the same administrative burden as one shipping hundreds, spread across far less revenue. That is why the regulation is likely to consolidate the supplier base as much as it changes forestry practice.
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EUDR Compliance Is Not the Only Standard
Businesses wishing to enter the EU must also comply with BSCI, the Business Social Compliance Initiative, which assesses social responsibility in business. “We cannot access this market without upgrading ourselves to the standards set by importers, such as global buyer IKEA,” Mr. Thang emphasised.
Meeting international standards is a substantial challenge in practice. Nghia Son Company encountered many difficulties in the supplier evaluation process when exporting orders to IKEA Group.
To date, fewer than 10 businesses in the country are qualified to supply IKEA, while the group’s demand is large. Any business wanting to join must invest in upgrading its production, management and social responsibility systems to international standards.
Beyond IKEA, the lesson is general: when entering a new market, businesses must research consumer tastes and legal standards carefully, and build an investment strategy from that research rather than from assumptions.
The Opportunity Inside the Requirement
“The market not only creates barriers, but also opens up opportunities. If we know how to take advantage of FTA incentives, proactively adapt to tariff and non-tariff barriers, and at the same time promote green transformation, digital transformation and innovation, Vietnamese enterprises can completely improve their position in the global supply chain,” Mr. Thang shared.
That framing is worth taking seriously. The traceability system a manufacturer builds for EUDR compliance is the same system that answers US origin-of-goods scrutiny, satisfies BSCI social audits and supports FSC certification. Built once, it serves several markets, which converts a regulatory cost into a qualification asset that competitors without it cannot quickly replicate.
Frequently Asked Questions
From 30 December 2025, for all wood products exported to the European Union. The deforestation-free commitment is measured against a cut-off date of 31 December 2020.
They can be rejected at the border or destroyed by EU customs. There is no grace period for correcting the file after arrival.
Geolocation of the harvest plot, evidence that harvesting was legal under the producing country’s law, and a due diligence statement covering the chain from that plot through to the finished product.
Because the administrative cost of compliance is largely fixed and does not scale down with volume. More than 90% of HAWA’s membership is small or medium-sized, and many are still uncertain about the requirements.
No. BSCI social compliance also applies, and major buyers add their own supplier evaluation on top. Fewer than 10 Vietnamese businesses currently qualify to supply IKEA.
Source: baodautu.vn