News

Vietnamese wood products have large room for expansion in France and the EU

18/08/2021    55

Vietnam is the sixth largest supplier of wooden furniture to France, but its proportion accounts for only 4.5% of France’s total import value. Therefore, there are huge opportunities for Vietnamese wooden furniture to expand its market share in France.

According to the Import-Export Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the French are big consumers of furniture. In particular, for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have had to stay at home more, so they have spent time refurbishing their houses and paying much attention to interior products.

Specifically, France strongly increased its imports of wooden furniture from other markets in the first half of 2021 - mainly from Italy, China and Germany. The import value from these three markets accounted for 49.8% of the total.

Vietnam is also the fifth largest supplier of wooden frame chairs to France. However, the import value of French wooden frame chairs from Vietnam accounted for only 6.7% of France's total imports.

Similar to France, although the export of Vietnamese wood products to the EU market has increased sharply, Vietnam's wooden furniture exports to the EU still accounts for only a small proportion. This shows that Vietnamese wood products have great potential for further market expansion in the EU market.

Experts predict that in the second half of 2021, Vietnam's export turnover of wood and wood products to the EU market will increase strongly once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control while the EU gradually loosens its pandemic prevention measures. The economic recovery of the EU countries will also be one of the factors supporting Vietnam's exports of wood and wood products to this market.

In addition, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will bring several benefits to the wood industry such as the reduction of non-tariff barriers and more convenience in the import of modern machinery for the domestic wood industry, among others.

Source: Nhan Dan Online