VN earns 425 mln USD from wood exports to China in 6 months

Workers are working on wooden products at a factory. (Source: VNA)

Vietnam’s wood sector pocketed 425 million USD from exports to China in the first half of this year, ranking second among Vietnamese exports to China behind cassava.

The information was released by the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Viforest) at a seminar on the state and trend of Vietnam-China wood rrade from 2012-2014 held in Hanoi on September 15.

Woodchips, sawn timber, furniture, planks and round wood are important products that help the local wood industry enjoy trade surplus with China , with the first accounting for 60 percent of the total wood export value.

However, most Vietnamese wood products shipped to China are raw products with low added value, said Viforest General Secretary Nguyen Ton Quyen, citing that of 940 million USD in wood export turnover to China, 700 million USD was from raw products.

He added that Vietnam also bought many wooden products from China , with an import turnover of 121 million USD in the first six months of 2015.

According to participants, wood trade between Vietnam and China will be greatly affected by regulations in free trade agreements, including the ASEAN-China Agreement on Trade in Goods.

The agreements will create opportunities for Vietnam to expand the consumption of its wooden products in China and vice versa, they noted.-VNA