Processing wood for exports (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – 2018 was a successful year forthe wood industry, with the export of wood products earning the country over8.9 billion USD (not including non-wood forestry products), up 14.5 percentfrom the previous year.
The achievements are highlighted in the industry’s annualreport which was released at a workshop held in Hanoi on February 21 by theVietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES), the Forest ProductsAssociation of Binh Dinh (FPA Binhdinh), the Handicraft andWood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the Binh Duong FurnitureAssociation (BIFA) and Forest Trends.
VIFORES Vice Chairman NguyenTon Quyen noted that domestic enterprises accounted for 53 percent of the totalexport revenue, and the sector has been able to source 75 percent of materialwood domestically.
According to Quyen, there are867 foreign-invested (FDI) firms with total investment capital of 5.5 billionUSD operating in the wood industry, with 63 percent of them invested by China,the Republic of Korea and Japan. Foreign-invested firms are mostly of smallscale, with capital averaging 4 - 5 million USD each.
Among the FDI enterprises, 529are involved in for-export production. They contributed nearly 4 billion USD,or 47 percent, to the wood industry’s total export revenue last year.
Vice Chairman Quyen forecasta two-digit growth in wood product exports in 2019, and the value is likely toreach 10.5 billion USD.
To Xuan Phuc from Forest Trendsemphasised that the industry must keep close supervision of the legality ofimported materials, especially that from high-risk sources.
He added that in the longterm the industry should shift to products with higher added value andquality-based growth, which will require the industry to reform all the linksin the production chains, train skilled human resources and develop brandnames.-VNA
