Business season in Bai Oi carpentry village

Updated: 14:42, 16/12/2016

(BGO) – The last months of the year are normally the busiest time for carpenters in Bai Oi village, Dinh Tri commune, Bac Giang city, as they are working hard to finish orders before the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet).

Luong Xuan Thuan’s family has just bought a computerised lathe worth nearly 200 million VND to serve production.

Since early morning, the whole village is full of noises of people cutting and carving timbers. Trucks of all sizes begin to bring finished goods to customers in different parts of the country. This time, a workshop run by Luong Xuan Thuan is operating at its maximum capacity. In October, Thuan had to hire five more seasonal workers to complete orders on time. Thuan said: “Customers’ demand has doubled compared to previous months. They want goods with better appearance, so I have just spent nearly 200 million VND buying a computerized lathe.” On such a large scale of production, Thuan’s family sold approximately 30 sets of furniture per month, including chairs, tables, altars and wardrobes. Each set is valued between several millions to hundreds of millions dong, depending on the products’ materials and sophistication levels.

Woodwork brings in high income but requires workers to be industrious, patient and creative to produce up-to-date items. There are seven computerised chisels and lathes across Bai Oi, including two lathes subsidised by the Bac Giang People’s Committee. In addition to traditional products, there are several customised orders of vases, worshipping items and wood-carved parallel sentences for the upcoming Tet holiday. Despite restricted time, high volume of orders and longer working hours, product quality is always prioritised in the village, with orders collected several months before the peak season. Complicated details of the products are often handmade, while materials are purchased in Luc Ngan and Son Dong districts or other provinces such as Lang Son, Cao Bang, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh.

The Bai Oi carpentry village creates jobs with monthly incomes ranging from 5 to 8 million VND for over 200 people, including 80 females.

Woodworking started in Bai Oi in 1950 when Luong Xuan Thu (born in 1928) from Thuong Tin district, Ha Tay (now a district of Hanoi) came here and taught residents how to carve timber. Now, 48 out of 160 households in the craft village run wood-making workshops, creating 260 jobs for residents and people from neighbouring localities. There are only three families living in poverty in the whole village. Nguyen Dinh Chu, a villager, said: “I became a competent wood carver when I was 16. Now my workshop hires seven workers and earns 300 million VND in annual profit.”

The bustling working atmosphere is overwhelming all woodwork establishments in the village in these days. Some households like those of Ha Van Hien, Ha Dinh Hoa, Luong Van Hung, Ha Van Quyen, Ha Quang Hieu and Luong Van Ba have arranged many shifts a day. Everyone hopes for a smooth and profitable business season.

Tuyet Mai