Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam earned 7.83billion USD from exporting forestry products in the first eight months of 2020,up 10.3 percent year-on-year and accounting for 29.9 percent of the agricultural sector's total export turnover.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s VietnamAdministration of Forestry, the export value of wood and wooden products in the period was 7.32 billion USD, up 9.6 percent over the same period last year.
The export of non-timber forestry products surged21.6 percent, reaching 511 million USD.
The US, Japan, China, the EU, and the Republic of Korea remained key importers ofVietnamese forestry products in the eight-month period, with a total value of 7billion USD, or 89.5 percent of the country’s forestry export value.
The sector’s import value fell 9.3 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of 6.31billion USD in the period.
The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement,Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) between Vietnam and the EU, which took effect onJune 1, 2019, has helped raise the competitiveness of Vietnamese wood and furniture in the EU.
Vietnam’s wooden furniture export turnover accounts for only 6 percent of theglobal market, meaning Vietnamese businesses have substantial opportunities toexpand.
According to Do Xuan Lap, Chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFOREST), exports of forestry products are predicted to rise 20 percentto 12.5 billion USD this year./.