Source: nandan.vn
Trade surplus increased by 21.2% compared to 2020
Reporting at the recent forestry industry review conference, Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia, Deputy Director of the General Department of Forestry, said that the export value of forest products in 2021 will reach about US$15.87 billion, up 20% compared to the previous year. annual plan, an increase of 20% over the same period. In which, the export of wood and wood products reached 14.72 billion USD, the export of non-timber forest products reached 1.15 billion USD. Import value of wood and wood products in 2021 reached about 2.93 billion USD, up 14.2% over the same period. The trade surplus for the whole year was estimated at 12.94 billion USD, up 21.2% over the same period.
“By the end of December 2021, the export value of forest products accounted for over 30% of the total export value of the agro-forestry-fishery industry nationwide; reached 4.7% of the national export turnover and was one of the seven items with an export value of over 10 billion USD. The trade surplus of forest products is the largest in the group of agro-forestry-fishery industries, making an important contribution to the trade surplus of the industry,” said Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia.
Nguyen Van Dien, Director of the Forestry Production Development Department, assessed that 2021 is the year that the whole forestry industry suffers many difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, in which, especially for the production and processing industry. forest products, there are not only difficulties in epidemics but also on trade remedies. However, with the successful results in closing the US 301 investigation, it has made an important contribution to help increase export turnover of forest products. “With the figure achieved this year with 15.87 billion USD, it is a very exciting and impressive number because it was very difficult just a few months ago. The above result is a spectacular recovery of the business community in the past few months. The last three months of the year,” added Mr. Nguyen Van Dien.
In this regard, Mr. Le Quoc Doanh, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the 301 investigation into the control of illegal logging and trade in the US is not only good news for the industry. that the US side has taken Vietnam as a model for a sustainable trade agreement globally. The US side said it would send experts to support Vietnam in implementing a plan to transform the forestry industry towards sustainable development, which will positively affect the export market of wood and forest products in the near future. next.
Prepare a plan to cope with difficulties in 2022
In addition to the achieved results, according to experts, in the past years, the export turnover of the industry has always grown at a double-digit rate. The wood industry is one of the five industries that bring the largest export value to Vietnam. However, the wood industry also faces significant challenges when the price of imported wood materials has increased continuously recently. The scarcity of containers slows down the delivery time. In addition, there are issues related to trade remedies.
In 2022, the forestry sector sets key tasks that are to strive to maintain a stable 42% forest coverage rate and improve forest quality. Plant 230 thousand ha of concentrated forest, plant 122 million scattered trees. Exploiting 31.5 million m3 of timber. Striving to achieve export value of 16 billion USD of forest products. Revenue from forest environmental services reached 3,000 billion VND.
Le Quoc Doanh said that entering 2022, the situation is still very complicated, especially when the Covid-19 epidemic does not know when to end, not to mention the problems of natural disasters, climate change, and market movements. irregular. Therefore, the forestry sector must not be subjective, even though it has achieved impressive results, it still has to be very calm and respond proactively to master the situation.
To achieve the goals set by the industry, it is necessary to focus on improving the quality of planted forests. For example, acacia trees, in the past, we only used acacia wood to make chipboard and paper, but now, if we know how to take care and research new varieties, we can process it into wood products of higher value. In addition, the link between processing and raw material areas also needs to be strengthened. On the business side, it is necessary to invest in technology and improve processing capacity to increase the competitiveness of products.
On the side of the General Department of Forestry, Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia said that in 2022, the General Department will continue to implement Directive No. 08/CT-TTg dated March 28, 2019 of the Prime Minister on a number of tasks. services and solutions to develop and sustainably the wood processing industry and non-timber forest products for export; focus on implementing coordination in preventing trade fraud of some exporting enterprises, controlling the cutting of timber imported from countries with high risks of illegal timber origin.
