Asia Section

LAM DONG PROVINCE – THE SILK CENTER OF VIETNAM

Time:2017-06-27 Source:International Silk union Secre

  Dang Vinh Tho 

  Chairman

  Vietnam Silk Association

  

   

  The sericulture and silk industry have been developing in Vietnam for hundreds of years.

  In 1624 - 1627, a missionary named Alexandre de Phodes came to Vietnam to preach  writing in his journey diary: “In the Southern Vietnam, there are so much silk and cocoon that the local people use it to knit nets and braids". According to the historical materials, about 300 years ago, Vietnam's silk was exported to many countries around the world and the products met the society's demand of daily clothes for both high and low class consumers.   

  The sericulture and silk industry of Vietnam used to be developed predominantly in riverine areas. After the Liberation Day of Southern Vietnam, the sericulture was actually developed in Lam Vien plateau with the 1893 red soil. Doctor Alexandre Yersin discovered at an average height of more than 1,000 meters over the sea level, average temperature 22 - 25oC, air humidity 85%, average rainfall about 1800mm/year allocated in six months from April to September every year. With favorable weather conditions and mild climate throughout the year, it is suitable for high-quality sericulture, that the biggest advantage in Lam Dong is that farmers only need 10kg of strawberries to collect 1kg of cocoon, while in the central and northern provinces, it takes up to 15 - 17kg of strawberry leaves to collect 1kg of cocoon. Another advantage of mulberry trees in Lam Dong compared to the northern provinces is that the mulberry trees are not hibernating, so farmers can cultivate 18 - 20 silkworm periods each year. From the above advantages, especially since 2004, the Agricultural Research Center of and Bao Loc successfully created two new varieties of strawberry named S7CB and VA201 with many advantages compared to the white and mulberry varieties before. These new mulberry varieties provide a very high yield of 40 - 45 tonnes of leaves per hectare per year, possibly reach 50 tonnes per hectare per year with intensive investment. Since there were two new mulberry varieties and silkworm raising techniques, the cocoon price increased from 20.000 VND/kg in 1997 to 140.000 VND/kg in 2017, the average income of farmers raised from 14.000.000 VND/ha to 400.000.000 VND/ha, especially the investment in intensive farming of mulberry trees has collected over 500 million VND/ha/year.

  Sericulture is a special economic-technical sector that requires the closure of production stages from mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing and silk weaving. The product of the previous stage is the material for next stage. At present, Lam Dong Province has basically changed the technology of incubating silkworm from mechanical incubation to auto silkwing. We produce about 1.000 tons of silk and 4 million meters of silk annually. Most of our products are exported to Japan, India, Bangladesh and some ASEAN countries. We provide the silk fabrics for kimono, caravat, socks and fashion industry in these countries.

  Currently, we are developing the brand named Bao Loc Silk to expand the capacity of domestic and foreign production, maintai the ability to dominate the silk market, raise the production values, product finishing and meet the demands of domestic market and export

  On this occasion, I would like to introduce to you, on April 15 2017, the Vietnam Silk Association has been established. This is an organization of sericulture and silk industry with the purpose of gathering and uniting the members which are silk companies and enterprises of Vietnam; supporting each other to operate effectively, contributing to the national socio-economic development. Vietnam Silk Association is the connection between members and the government as well as the link between farmers and manufacturers.

  There are almost 50 members in Vietnam Silk Association. They are the leaders and managers of silk companies and enterprises, scitentists, businessmen from the North to the South of Vietnam.

  Members of Committee of Vietnam Silk Association:

  Chairman: Mr. Dang Vinh Tho

  Secretary General :Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh

  Vice – Chairmen:

  1. Mr. Le Thai Vu: Chairman – Hoi An Silk Group

  2. Mr. Huynh Duc Thach: Director – Dong Lam Silk JS

  3. Mr. Vu Cao Trung: Chairman – Simexco Silk JSC

  4. Mr. Nguyen Van Hai: Director – Hai Dung Co. Ltd.

  5. Mr. Le Quang Tu: Director – National Sericulture Research Center

  The office of Vietnam Silk Association is located at 20 Quang Trung Str., Ward 2, Bao Loc City, Lam Dong Province

  Through this seminar, we would like to call on the collaboration of all the silk lovers to share the experience and cooperate to create the perfect silk products for our market.

  Thank you!

  (The speech was delivered by Dang Vinh Tho, Chairman of Vietnam Silk Association at International Silk Seminar,Vietam International Silk Festival 2017)