Overview of Vietnam Silk Industry

Mr. Dang Vinh Tho

President of Vietnam Sericulture Association

First of all, on behalf of Vietnam Silk Association, I would like to welcome all of you, ladies and gentlemen from many countries gathering here to join this important seminar. Now, I would like to present the development of sericulture and silk in Vietnam during two years 2017 - 2019.

In 2017, I have reported in Hangzhou that we confirmed that mulberry area in Vietnam was about 5000 ha and other provinces in the whole country over 500 ha are mainly concentrated in the northern mountainous provinces of Moc Chau, Son La and Bac Can... The number of automatic reeling lines in 2017 is 50 ones (400 rows each). In fact, in Vietnam, mulberry cultivation has been spread all over from the North to the South. In recent years, due to the high income of mulberry growing, a number of northern provinces have rapidly developed, forming a large mulberry area such as Moc Chau - Son La - Yen Bai while some provinces have begun to restore local traditional trades such as Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces...

But with the advantages of climate, soil and the potential to expand the mulberry area which are still quite large on the unexploited land, the land converted from some other crops with no high economic efficiency such as cashew nuts and pepper ... In the past two years, Lam Dong and the Central Highlands provinces such as Dak Nong, Dak Lak and Gia Lai increased significantly their areas, nearly 10,000 hectares of mulberry which were formed and developed led to the complete agricultural and industrial branch from mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk germination and silk weaving.

For high efficiency mulberry industry, firstly we need to have high-yield mulberry varieties, the process of intensive cultivation of mulberry and advanced silkworm breeding techniques on the basis of new technology transfer and allow farmers to apply massively to improve productivity and product quality. If these problems are solved, it is possible to improve economic efficiency on an area unit. From that, farmer’s income has been increased, forming stable material areas, promoting the silkworm industry to develop sustainably.

Mulberry growers are now aware of the good or bad concentration of raising silkworms, which affects the productivity and production of silkworms. It is important to respect the techniques of raising silkworms, especially in newly developed areas with a low technical level, the dissemination of concentrated silkworm breeding techniques saves not only labor, materials but also mulberry leaves. At the same time it will help people to remove difficulties in caring for their silkworms. It takes only 12 to 14 days to raise big silkworms to harvest cocoons and sell to help farmers quickly recover capital.

The model of intensive silkworm raising has been implemented in many countries in the world such as Japan, Brazil, India, and China ... from the 70s of the last century. This model is beneficial for both the farmers to raise the silkworms for sale and the people who buy the silkworms for raising. Currently, in Lam Dong they have built a model of commodity production chain, I think very good. The reeling facilities combine with the households to raise little silkworms and then sell the big silkworms to the farmers and then buy all the cocoons to reel silk. In Lam Dong province, there are more than 200 households raising concentrated silkworms. It can be said that changing the new hybrid varieties, raising silkworms, changing the technology of silk reeling from the mechanical silk reeling to the automatic one and the stable price of silk in the world is removing the knot for the Vietnamese silkworm industry in these years.

Currently, there are nearly 100 automatic silk reeling ranges in the whole country, doubling compared to the year of 2017. The whole country silk production is about 1,600 tons. In the process of mulberry production, silkworm breeding eggs play a very important role, bad quality of silkworm eggs will adversely affect the result of silkworms and farmer’s income. At the same time it affects also the quality of cocoons and silk.

At present, in Vietnam, the whole hybrid two-generation silkworms are almost imported 100% from China through the quota. This is a major challenge for the Vietnamese silkworm industry. Therefore, the Vietnam Mulberry Association has proposed to the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to take measures and create conditions for the silk mulberry industry to breed actively hybrid two-generation silkworm eggs to serve farmers.

Demand for silk and products from the mulberry industry in the world and in Vietnam is increasing with the pace of socio-economic development. In developing countries, consumers tend to use natural garments, in which silk is one of the increasingly popular products. Countries that have traditionally used silk fabrics such as Japan, China, India and Pakistan ... have not decreased their needs; European and North American needs are increasing while supply of silk products tends to decrease. Countries with a tradition of mulberry production such as Japan and South Korea now produce very little, even China, which is the world leader in mulberry production in recent years, has also reduced production with process of industrializing the country.

From the above judgments, Vietnam’s silkworm production industry in the next few decades has both a world market and a domestic one. This is a very favorable condition, a basis for building the mulberry industry into an important economic sector of the country.

In conclusion, I wish all the leaders and members of International Silk Union health and wealth!

Thank you for your listening.