Source: thuongtruong.com.vn
According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam’s exports of wood and wood products in June reached 1.5 billion USD, up 12.5% over the previous month but down 1.8% over the same period last year. . Generally, in the first 6 months of the year, the export turnover of wood and wood products was estimated at US$8.5 billion, up 3.4% over the same period last year.
However, this growth is significantly lower than the expectation of 5-8% increase of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFOREST) and lower than the growth rate of 3.8% in the first 6 months of 2020. , when the COVID-19 epidemic began to break out across the globe. Compared to the export target of 18 billion USD this year, the wood industry has achieved less than half (47.2%) of the plan.
According to the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the export of wood and wood products slowed down in the first months of this year mainly due to high inflation in many main export markets, prompting consumers to tighten spending. .
Besides, freight rates are high; prices of goods, raw materials, imported materials as inputs for production all increased sharply due to scarce supply due to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine; epidemic situation and “Zero COVID” policy in China.
According to experts, another important reason why the growth rate of the wood industry has slowed down is the export activity to the US, the market that consumes 60% of Vietnam’s wood and wood products is showing signs of slowing down. explosive period.
According to data from the US International Trade Commission (USITC), in the first 4 months of 2022, the US spent more than 8.8 billion USD importing wooden furniture from the world, up 11.4% over the same period last year. year 2021.
Vietnam is still the largest export market of wooden furniture to the US, but the market share has decreased from 40% to 35%. Notably, among the 10 largest wooden furniture export markets to the US, only Vietnam recorded a decline in the first 4 months of this year, with a decrease of 1.7% to more than 3 years. billion USD.
The demand for imported furniture in the US is still increasing strongly, but Vietnam’s wood industry is facing trade remedies in this market, the Import-Export Department said.
In early June, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the initiation of an investigation into evasion of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tax on wooden cabinets imported from Vietnam. The plaintiff alleges that Vietnamese enterprises use wood parts imported from China that are within the scope of application of trade remedies that the US is applying.
Previously, in the list of 11 groups of export products at risk of being subject to trade remedies, updated by the Trade Remedies Administration (Ministry of Industry and Trade) by the end of November 2021, the wood industry has reached 4 products are at risk of being subject to anti-circumvention, origin fraud, illegal transshipment or trade remedy measures in the US.
According to the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFOREST), the risk of supply chain disruption due to trade and geopolitical tensions; high freight rates; Prices of imported goods, raw materials, fuel and materials that are inputs for production are forecasted to continue to increase, especially in the case of wooden cabinets.
According to VIFOREST, the opportunities that FTAs bring to businesses are huge. However, due to some limitations, businesses have not taken full advantage of these opportunities, so the export turnover of wood and wood products to markets with FTAs with Vietnam has not made much breakthrough. In which, autonomy in logistics is considered the biggest barrier.
Therefore, Vietnam needs to perfect policies and laws on logistics services, build a fleet of super-long and super-heavy ships along with modern logistics infrastructure to meet import and export needs, regardless of the fleet. of foreign enterprises today.
In addition, businesses need to improve business models, upgrade products and services, rearrange input supply chains to take full advantage of tariff preferences from the Agreements and penetrate into the EU. new market.
In addition, in order for the export of wood and wood products to achieve positive results in the coming time, it is necessary to support the Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad in updating information on markets, export demand, and so on. , imports as well as early warning of trade remedies…
