The question lands in our inbox most weeks, usually phrased as a decision already half-made: "We need to move our furniture out of China — can you do it in Vietnam?" Because we run plants in both — the main works in Anji, Zhejiang and a second base in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam — our answer tends to disappoint people who wanted a clean yes. The right base depends on the product, the destination market and the tariff picture that month.
The tariff reality, kept honest
Trade policy is the loudest reason buyers ask, and it moves fast. As of late 2025 and into 2026 the US layered new duties onto wooden furniture: a Section 232 timber action took effect in September 2025 adding tariffs on categories like upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets, stacked on top of existing Section 301 duties on Chinese goods. At the same time, US authorities opened fresh Section 301 investigations in 2026 covering Vietnam and more than a dozen other economies — so the idea that Vietnam is a permanent tariff haven is not safe to build a five-year plan on. We do not quote you a duty rate; your customs broker does, against the current HTS code and your destination. What we can do is build the same SKU in either country so you can switch as the numbers change.
What actually differs on the floor
Beyond tariffs, the two bases are not identical. China — Anji specifically — sits inside a mature chair-industry cluster, so component supply, skilled labour and fast tooling are close at hand; for a complex new solid-wood model with a lot of machining, China still develops faster. Vietnam has grown strong in solid-wood furniture and gives some buyers a cleaner story for the US market, but deep components and certain hardware still travel in, which can stretch lead time on a first run. Neither is "better." They are tools for different jobs.
Where the wood itself comes from
One angle buyers forget is raw material. A lot of the timber we discuss — rubberwood especially — is a Southeast Asian plantation wood, so a Vietnam base can sit closer to the log supply for those species, while certain temperate hardwoods are imported into both countries regardless. The takeaway is not that one country is "the wood country"; it is that the right base partly depends on which species your design uses, and that is a conversation worth having before you pick a flag for the label. We size that into the quote rather than treating country and wood as separate decisions.
The same goes for documentation. If your market wants FSC chain-of-custody or specific origin paperwork, that requirement can favour one base over the other depending on which mills in the chain are certified. We map that early so a certification requirement doesn't surface late and reset your timeline.
Why we kept both rather than picking one
Here is the trade-off, and it is the honest one: running two plants costs us more in overhead and in keeping quality identical across borders. We carry that cost because a single-country supplier hands the importer all the policy risk. When a tariff line changes or a port backs up, a dual base lets us shift a program without you re-qualifying a brand-new vendor — same drawings, same QC standard, different door. For a buyer that plans years ahead, that flexibility is worth more than the few cents of overhead it adds.
The catch you should hold us to: "made in Vietnam" only means something if the work is genuinely done there. Substantial transformation has to actually happen at the plant on the label — not a container of finished Chinese chairs relabelled across a border. We do not transship to dodge duties, and you should not ask a supplier to — it is the importer who carries that liability, not the factory, and customs enforcement on furniture origin has only tightened. We keep both plants producing real furniture and document origin honestly, because a duty saved on a false origin claim is not a saving; it is a deferred penalty with your name on it.
If you are weighing a move, tell us the destination market and target landed cost and we will lay out which base fits, with the quality and lead-time trade-offs spelled out. Reach the export desk or read how our OEM/ODM programme handles dual-base orders.