Wood chips for export (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Wood pellets and wood chips are a bright spot inthe shipment of forestry products, said head of the Wood Chip Section under the Vietnam Timber and Forest ProductAssociation (Viforest) Thang Van Thong.
Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that wood chip exports brought home 1.1 billion USD in the firstseven months of this year while wood pellets earned 380 million USD.
Following the heated growth in the last half of 2022, theaverage export price of wood pellets decreased by nearly 3% to around 157 USD pertonne in the first half of this year.
The Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan have been the two major importersof wood pellets from Vietnam, accounting for nearly 100% of the total volumeand value of Vietnam’s exports to all markets since 2019.
During January-June, Japan spent over 195 million USD on importingmore than 1.16 million tonnes of pellets from Vietnam, up 5.65% in volume and28.88% in value year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the RoK imported over 840,000 tonnesof pellets valued at nearly 116 million USD, down over 33% in volume and almost43% in value annually.
For wood chips, China and Japan were the largestimporters of this product from Vietnam, making up nearly 95% of the totalvolume and value of Vietnam’s exports in 2022 and over 90% in the first half ofthis year.
China consistently accounts for over 60% of Vietnam’s totalexport value. However, there has been a significant decrease in demand in Chinathis year while Japan also experienced a slight decline, leading to a drop inthe export prices of wood chips.
In September, Vietnam’s total forestry product exports surpassed 1.28billion USD, up 7.3% after a prolonged periodof decline. As a result, the overall decrease in forestry product exports wasreduced to 20.6%, with a total value of 10.44 billion USD in the first nine monthsof this year.
Thong noted with delight that following thedirection of the Prime Minister and with the drastic actions by the Ministry ofFinance, the General Department of Taxation and local tax authorities,businesses in the wood industry, primarily those involved in wood chip andpellet processing, have been refunded 2 trillion VND in value-added tax (VAT).
This will provide capital to support theiroperations in the coming time and ease the challenges faced by the woodindustry due to limited orders, he said./.
