A wood factory of the Truong Phat JSC at Phuoc Hoa Industrial Park in Phu Giao district, Binh Duong province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA)- Vietnam is likely to reach its export turnover target of 11 billion USD fromwood and forestry products this year as the main season for business is in thelast six months of the year, according to an official of the Vietnam Timber and ForestProduct Association (VIFORES).
Businesses also have enoughorders for production by year-end, said Nguyen Ton Quyen, ViceChairman and Secretary-General of VIFORES.
Deputy Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan also said to meet this goal, the Governmenthas committed to creating favourable conditions for businesses, includingdomestic and foreign-invested enterprises, to develop and have solutions fororigin fraud in the timber industry.
According to the association, Vietnamis expected to export timber and wood products to the EU valued at over 700million USD this year, higher than the 680 million USD achieved in 2018.
Before 2018, the EU market mainlyimported outdoor wooden furniture, while since early this year this market hasincreased imports of indoor wooden furniture at a much higher value. This trendwill continue in the future, it said.
Vietnam's exports of timber andwooden products to the EU market have good prospects thanks to the advantagesfrom the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governanceand Trade (VPA/FLEGT) and the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
To seize opportunities in the EUmarket, Vietnamese businesses should invest in equipment, technology andmaterials following market demand, according to the association.
For the Japanese market, besideswooden furniture, Japan has a policy of producing wood pellets to replacefossil energy sources such as coal, oil and gas which are gradually runningout. The wood pellets are used as fuel for thermal power plants replacing coaland oil and used as heating equipment in the industrial sector and civilactivities.
Recently, Japanese enterpriseshave invested in three wood pellet production factories in Nghe An province,producing wood pellets for export to Japan.
Therefore, it expects that Vietnam'sexport turnover of wooden products to Japan will surpass the EU, reaching over 1billion USD.
Meanwhile, the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade’s Import and Export Department has warned that the rapidincrease of Vietnam’s timber and wood products exports to the US at present maycause the US to pay more attention to the exports of those products to thismarket. Therefore, local enterprises exporting wood and forest products shouldactively update information from their partners and authorities to avoid thisrisk.
According to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development's Administration of Forestry, the exportvalue of wood and forest products in the first eight months of 2019 wasestimated at 7.08 billion USD, up 18.6 percent year on year, including 1billion USD in August, up 16 percent.
Pham Van Dien, deputy director-generalof the administration, said 87 percent of the national export turnover fromwood and forest products was to traditional markets, such as the US, Japan, theEU, China and the Republic of Korea.
Quyen said the US is the largestexport market of Vietnam's timber industry, accounting for 45 percent of theindustry's total export value. The average growth rate of exports to thismarket is from 15-17 percent each year. The export value of timber and woodenproducts in the first seven months of 2019 was 2.7 billion USD, up 32.8 percentover the same period in 2018.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s exports ofwood and wooden products to Japan have increased sharply since the beginning ofthe year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Vietnam was the largest kitchenfurniture supplier for Japan in the first half of 2019, reaching 12,800 tonnes,up 19.8 percent year on year. Kitchen furniture from Vietnam accounted for 54.4percent of Japan's total kitchen furniture imports./.
VNA
