Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the forum (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The wood and forestryexport turnover for this year needs to surpass 11 billion USD, Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc told the agriculture sector at a forum held in Hanoi onFebruary 22.
Vietnamese wood products only account for 6percent of the global market share, so a development strategy must be formed toturn Vietnam into a wood processing export centre by 2030, he said.
To realise the goal, Minister of Agriculture andRural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the sector will effectively carry outthe Law on Forestry and build documents guiding the implementation of newinternational commitments – such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP) as well as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) onForest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) – to support the woodprocessing and forestry industry’s stable development.
The agriculture sector will work to ensure thesupply of about 37.5 million cu.m of timber material for the wood processingindustry, grant sustainable forest management certifications according tointernational practices and criteria, and limit the export of raw woodmaterial.
It will also increase the productivity andquality of planted forests and encourage farmers to change their cultivationhabits from extensive to intensive farming.
The ministry will seek to maintain traditionalmarkets and expand into new areas of potential to optimise the opportunities broughtabout from the free trade agreements.
In 2018, Vietnam earned 9.38 billion USD fromexporting wood and forestry products, making up over 23 percent of the agriculturesector’s export turnover and recording a trade surplus of 7 billion USD.
The country now has about 4,500 wood processingand forestry businesses, 95 percent of which are private firms.
Vietnamese wood and forestry products have beensold to over 120 nations and territories. Thecountry is the fifth largest exporter of wood and forestry products in theworld, second in Asia, and first in Southeast Asia. –VNA
VNA
