Wood exports maintain steady growth

From the beginning of the year until now, while exports of agricultural products have been facing difficulties and a decline in turnover, exports of wood and wood products have maintained a steady growth of above 10 percent. Thereby, the export turnover of wood and wood products is predicted to hit the target of US$ 11 billion. 

Over 16 percent growth

The latest report from the Agro Processing and Market Development Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shows that, by the end of July, the export value of wood and wood products was estimated at US$ 5.66 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent.

According to Deputy Director General of the Forestry Administration Mr. Pham Van Dien, 87 percent of Vietnam's wood and wood product exports value was from traditional markets (the United States, Japan, the EU, China and South Korea) which set strict requirements for quality, product design and origin. This continues to affirm the reputation of Vietnam's wood and wood products in the world market. Vietnam maintains the leading position in Southeast Asia, second in the Asia and fifth in the world in exports of forest products.

In addition to exporting to more than 120 countries, Vietnam’s wood products are returning to the domestic market, which closely links forest workers, businesses and consumers, creating a dynamic force for forestry production and forming a chain in accordance with the Forestry Law 2017.

On the reason why exports of wood and wood products can grow while exports of key agricultural products are facing difficulties, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said that the production capacity of the industry has increased rapidly. Afforestation has contributed to a higher supply of wood and the number of processing facilities has increased. In addition, the quality of wood products has been improved and met the criteria of traceability management to raise Vietnam's reputation.

“Particularly, the wood industry is different from other industries, when the market was still open, it accounted for about 6 percent of the global market share, but the facilitation and action and many dialogues to remove difficulties has encouraged businesses to invest,” Ha Cong Tuan said.

Confident to hit US$11 billion

In 2019, the entire forestry industry set a target of export turnover of US$11 billion. With the achieved results, this target is completely feasible. Even Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong is confident that this year, fishery and forestry is an important industry to help save the growth of the entire agricultural sector.

Director General of Forestry Department Nguyen Quoc Tri said the industry would focus on effectively implementing the forestry restructuring scheme; strengthen seed quality management, review and supplement national standards on seed management; build and replicate successful linkage models between wood processing enterprises and afforestation households to both ensure legal wood sources in the country and increase added value, reduce costs for product price, thereby improving the competitiveness of Vietnam’s wood and wood products.

Deputy Minister Ha Cong Tuan said that to improve the value of the wood industry, localities need to create a mechanism to develop high-tech wood processing facilities. Currently, Nghe An, Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc have established high-tech wood processing zones. Therefore, the Vietnam Administration of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must support enterprises to promote growth.

Around the development of the forestry industry, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that with Vietnam’s deep integration and participation in many free trade agreements (FTAs), raw materials and legal wood sources are indispensable in the integration trend of the forestry industry. This is a special concern in the future.

"Currently, in addition to the advantages of about 4,500 wood processing and manufacturing businesses, Vietnam also has a lot of potential in other areas such as medicinal plants which may produce billions of dollars if they are well managed and exploited. This is the direction that the forestry industry needs to determine to gradually contribute to more sustainable development,” Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said.

Source: Custom News