Plywood sourcing partner · Vietnam
Formavina is an independent plywood sourcing partner. We find the Vietnamese mills whose lines fit your specification, audit them, compare their quotes line by line, inspect your order before it is loaded and keep the documents straight: EUDR, CE, CARB, FSC. Plywood is all we do.
Who we are
Plenty of suppliers call themselves manufacturers and then buy from other mills. Buyers find out at the worst moment: a container that does not match the sample, a core that changed after the first order, a certificate that belonged to someone else. We work the other way round. We say what we are, we tell you which mill will make your order, and we check that mill before you pay a deposit.
Vietnamese plywood mills are good at making plywood and are rarely staffed for export. Most have no English-speaking sales team, no one to read a specification line by line and no one to chase documents. We do that work for them, which is why they work with us openly, and why we can stand in their yard with a caliper before your container is closed.
Plywood is our only trade: furniture and interior grades, commercial, film-faced and anti-slip, packing and LVL. One product, known in detail, from the core veneer to the B/L.
The right mill. Checked before it ships.
Services
Book one, or let us run the whole order. Every service ends in something you can read and keep: a shortlist, an audit report, a comparison sheet, an inspection report with photos, a document set.
We match your specification to mills whose lines actually make it, and check that each one is a producing mill rather than a reseller.
A day on site at the mill before the first order, written up against one checklist, with photos you can keep.
Samples from the shortlisted mills, made to your sheet and sent together in one parcel with a written comparison.
Quotes from several mills on one specification, compared line by line, so the cheapest offer is the same panel and not a thinner one.
We inspect the finished goods at the mill before loading and send the report before you pay the balance.
Several items in one 40HC when no single line makes all of them well: we plan the load, check each item at its mill and photograph the loading.
We tell you which documents your market needs, get them from the producing mill, check them against the goods and send drafts before shipment.
From deposit to arrival: production dates, photos during production, loading, the B/L, and claims taken up with the mill if something is wrong.
How it works
Most of a first order's time goes to samples and to the mill's 15–45 days of production. Everything else is ours to keep moving.
You send the application, specification, quantity and destination. If the sheet has gaps, we ask before anyone quotes.
We pick the mills whose lines fit, tell you who they are and why.
We visit, write up the audit and send samples made to your sheet.
Quotes on the same sheet, compared line by line. You choose the mill.
The mill issues the PI and contract; you pay the deposit to the mill's own account.
We track dates and send photos while your order is pressed and finished.
We inspect before loading and photograph the load. You approve the documents and pay the balance against the B/L scan; we stay on until it is unloaded.
Factory audit
One checklist for every mill, written up the same way, so two mills can be compared on paper before you compare their prices.
Mill audit checklist
Formavina · auditPeeling, drying, glue mixing, pressing and sanding on site and running, not only a warehouse and a sanding line.
Press sizes, the thicknesses and formats it runs every week, and how much of your volume it can take without subcontracting.
Core species and grade in stock, face veneers, glue type and supplier, film weight on film-faced lines.
Veneer moisture before gluing, press time and temperature, cold and hot pressing routine, thickness checks after sanding.
Who grades, against what, what is written down, and how rejects are kept apart from good sheets.
Business registration, export records, certificates and their scope, test reports and the dates on them.
Where the logs and veneer come from, and whether the mill can supply the EUDR data: species, quantity, plot geolocation and production dates.
Pallets, edge protection, strapping, marking, and how containers are loaded and photographed.
Pre-shipment inspection
Limits depend on the product line, so the inspection uses the limits written on your PI. The usual ranges for Vietnamese plywood are below; we check against yours.
| Check | How we check | Usual limit (agree yours on the PI) |
|---|---|---|
| Thickness | Caliper at several points per sheet, sheets drawn from different bundles | Sanded furniture ±0.2–0.3 mm; commercial and film-faced ±0.5 mm; packing ±0.5–1.0 mm |
| Length, width, squareness | Tape and diagonals | ±2 mm on length and width |
| Face and back | Graded in daylight against the agreed grade and the reference sample | Face and back grade as ordered |
| Core | Edges inspected; test pieces cut for gaps, overlaps and core species | Core species and grade as ordered; no gaps beyond the grade |
| Bond | Knife and boil tests on cut pieces, where agreed | Method and result as agreed, e.g. boil hours or EN 314 class |
| Moisture | Moisture meter on sheets from several bundles | As agreed on the PI |
| Film and edges | Film weight on paper, surface check, edge sealing (film-faced and anti-slip) | Film g/m² and pattern as ordered; edges sealed |
| Emission paperwork | Certificate or test report matched to the product and the glue | E0, E1 or CARB P2 / TSCA as ordered |
| Count and packing | Bundles and sheets counted, labels, protection and straps checked | Matches the PI and the packing list |
The ranges above are usual in Vietnamese mills, not a promise for every order. The sampling plan (for example ISO 2859-1 AQL) and the limits are written into the order before production starts.
Price benchmarking
When one offer is much cheaper, it is usually a different construction. The difference comes from core grade, joining method, face preparation, adhesive system and tolerance. We put every quote on the same sheet and show where the money goes.
| Line on the sheet | What changes between mills | Why it moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Species (styrax, eucalyptus, acacia, mixed), grade A or AB, joined or loose | Species and grade set weight, flatness and how many sheets fail |
| Plies | For example 11 or 13 plies in 18 mm, veneer thickness | Fewer, thicker veneers cost less and behave differently |
| Glue and emission | MR/melamine or phenolic; E0, E1, CARB P2 | On film-faced panels, the glue system is the biggest cost line |
| Face and back | Species, grade, veneer thickness, sanding | A thin or patched face is cheap until it is sanded |
| Tolerance | ±0.2 mm sanded or ±1.0 mm packing | Tight tolerance means sanding, sorting and rejects |
| Packing and terms | Pallets, protection, FOB or CFR, payment | Cheap packing shows up as damage at destination |
Every mill quotes the same specification, so nobody wins by quoting a cheaper build you did not ask for.
Plywood prices move with logs, glue and freight. You get dated quotes from mills, not a list that is wrong next month.
On orders placed through us, the mill's FOB price already includes our commission, paid by the mill, and we pass it on unchanged. You pay the mill; there is no second invoice from us.
What we source
Each family is made best by a different kind of mill. Knowing which one is half of the job.
IBirch, poplar, okoume, bintangor, gurjan, pine, eucalyptus and EV faces on styrax or eucalyptus cores; sanded, E0 to CARB P2.
Send a specification
IIBintangor, okoume and hardwood faces on mixed or acacia cores, for joinery, packaging and general use.
Send a specification
IIIFormwork and floor panels: film weight, glue system, core and edge sealing set the number of pours.
Send a specification
IVUnsanded panels for crates and pallets, where price, thickness and emission class matter more than the face.
Send a specification
VVeneers laid in one grain direction for beams, frames, shelves and packing structures.
Send a specificationMixed containers
Buyers often need four thicknesses and two grades, not a container of each. One line rarely makes all of them well, so we combine items from more than one line into one 40HC, by agreement.
Example 40HC: four items planned by weight and bundle size
Documents and compliance
Certificates and test reports belong to the producing mill or its certifier. We check that they cover the product you are buying, then collect the shipment documents and send drafts before loading.
EUDR
From 30 December 2026 an EU importer of plywood is an operator under the EUDR and needs a due diligence statement before customs; this includes micro and small importers already covered by the EUTR (only other micro and small operators have until 30 June 2027). The mill supplies the data; the statement is yours. We get the mill's dossier, check that species, quantity and plots match the goods, and send it with the shipment documents.
Vietnam is listed as low risk, which allows simplified due diligence when every commodity in the product comes from low-risk countries. Read Regulation (EU) 2025/1093
Dossier contents
Fees
A sourcing partner who will not say who pays them is a risk. This is how it works with us.
Why mills pay: most Vietnamese plywood mills have no export sales team, and we do that work for them. We are paid when an order ships; we keep earning only if you come back.
Who we work for
Our work starts from where you are with Vietnam.
You know plywood but not Vietnamese mills. We shortlist, audit and run the first order with you.
Same specification, new origin: we map your current panel onto the mills that make it and compare.
Book the audit, the pre-shipment inspection or the document check on its own.
Merchants and OEM buyers with several items and several mills, on one schedule.
Close up
Real photographs of Vietnamese plywood: faces, edges, film and straps. These are the details a container is accepted or rejected on.
What you can verify
Formavina is a new name, so everything we do is built to be checked. We have no reviews or case studies to show yet; we will publish them when they exist, with the buyer's permission.
Send a specification
Plywood is quoted from the application, not the product name. Six answers are enough to start; we ask about the rest.
Furniture, cabinets, packing, formwork, flooring or vehicle floors; indoor or outdoor.
Species and grade, joined or loose, stitched or not.
MR or phenolic; E0, E1, CARB P2 / TSCA; a boil test if you need one.
Species, grade, sanding, UV-ready, or film weight for film-faced.
Thickness, size, tolerance, cut-to-size.
Quantity, destination port, timing, the documents your market needs and the services you want.
Questions
A sourcing agent finds the mills that can make your plywood, checks them and manages the order with them. Formavina does this for plywood only: we vet and audit mills, collect samples, compare quotes on one specification, inspect the goods before loading, prepare the documents your market needs and follow the order to arrival. Unlike agents paid by the buyer, we are paid a commission by the mill; the fees section explains how.
No. We do not own a mill. We work with Vietnamese plywood mills that we have audited, and we tell you which mill makes your order before you pay a deposit. The mill signs the contract, receives the payments and issues the export documents.
On orders placed through us, the mill pays a sales commission that is already inside the mill's FOB price, which we pass on unchanged; you pay no separate fee. If you only want an audit or an inspection of a mill you found yourself, we quote a fixed fee per job before we start.
The order's. We are paid when an order ships, and we keep earning only if you come back. We work with several mills and none of them owns us: when a mill fails an audit or an inspection, we say so and the order moves. If you want a check with no commission involved, book the audit or inspection as a fixed-fee job.
Yes. You will know the mill's name before the deposit, and you can visit with us or on your own.
One day on site per mill against one checklist: whether it really produces (peeling, drying, gluing, pressing, sanding), whether its lines fit your panel, raw material and glue, process control and QC records, certificates and their scope, wood origin and EUDR data, packing and loading. You receive the written report with photos.
When production is finished and before loading, we draw sheets from several bundles and check thickness, size, faces, core, bond, moisture, film and edges, emission paperwork, count and packing against your PI. You get a photo report before you pay the balance. The sampling plan, for example ISO 2859-1 AQL, is agreed before production.
It depends on the mill and the specification, not the country. Vietnamese mills are strong in plantation-wood cores (eucalyptus, acacia, styrax) grown close to the mills, in furniture and film-faced grades for Europe, and in documents: Vietnam is classed low risk under the EUDR. A low price can still hide a weak core, so we compare offers on one specification whichever country they come from.
Hardwood and decorative plywood from Vietnam is the subject of US anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases (A-552-851 and C-552-852) with very high rates, and panels finished in Vietnam with Chinese face, back or core veneers can be treated as Chinese. Structural PS 1/PS 2 panels and phenolic film-faced plyform fall outside the scope. Check the scope and the current status for your product with your customs broker before ordering.
Usually one 40HC, with several items by agreement; 15–45 days of production after the deposit; 30 % deposit and 70 % against the B/L scan by T/T, or an irrevocable L/C at sight; FOB Hai Phong, CFR or CIF. These are the mill's terms and are confirmed on its PI.
Yes, 3–6 items per 40HC by agreement. Each item is inspected where it is made and the load is planned by weight and bundle size. One mill is exporter of record and invoices the whole container; each item's certificates and EUDR data still come from the mill that made it, and FSC-claimed items need a certified chain at every step.
For the EU: the mill's EUDR dossier (species, quantity, plot geolocation in GeoJSON, production dates) for your due diligence statement, and CE marking with a Declaration of Performance to EN 13986 for construction use. For the US: CARB P2 / TSCA Title VI compliance. Plus the commercial invoice, packing list, B/L and certificate of origin (EUR.1 for the EU). All are issued by the producing mill or its certifier.
No. Plywood and LVL from Vietnamese mills only. Keeping to one product is what lets us read a specification, an audit and an inspection in detail.
Contact
Write in English or Vietnamese. A person who reads plywood specifications answers every message.