Wood export in the first 8 months increased rapidly

The latest report from the General Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that in the first 8 months of this year, wood and wood products export is about 6,047 billion USD, up by 17.9% YoY. 2018. The United States, Japan, China, EU and South Korea are the main export markets, reaching US $ 5.3 billion, accounting for 87.7% of the export value of forest products. Regarding wood and forest product import, according to the statistics, the import value of the first 8 months of 2019 reached US $ 1.457 billion, up 15.3% over the same period in 2018, of which raw wood imports reached 1.38 billion USD, up 14.9%; wooden products reached 73.04 million USD, up 25.1%. Regarding the market, timber and wood products are imported from 96 countries and territories. In which, China, USA, Cameroon, Chile and Thailand are 5 markets with large import value of Vietnam, reaching 757.6 million USD, accounting for 52% of import value.

According to the Directorate of Forestry, the demand from the US market for wood products from other countries and from Vietnam may increase to compensate for the goods shortage due to high taxes from the market. China. Export items of Vietnam to the US are mainly wooden products (HS94) with high added value, so the wood processing industry has the opportunity to change the structure of export products in the direction of increasing the proportion. export of group of value-added goods, reducing the proportion of export of wood materials. Vietnam has many opportunities to receive FDI inflows from China because of its advantages in open policies, cheap labor, convenient transportation system, deep-sea ports. A voluntary partnership agreement between Vietnam and the European Union on the implementation of the Law on Forestry, Forest Governance and Trade in Forest Products (VPA / FLEGT) took effect from June 1, 2019. Thereby, it will promote trade activities of timber and wood products, creating favorable conditions for businesses to export forest products to the EU as well as other markets.