26 July 2021, New Delhi: Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that exports of forestry products in the first half of 2021 was estimated at 8.71 billion USD, up 61.6% over the same period in 2020. Vietnam’s main forestry importers include the United States, Japan, China, EU and Korea. With this growth momentum, Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia said that the export turnover of forestry products in 2021 will reach a value of over 15.5 billion USD, an increase of about 17% compared to 2020.
Wood processing enterprises continue to promote products with high added value such as kitchen cabinets, furniture, etc. These are also products that have had a great growth rate of 40%. The wood processing industry has experienced a great growth and shift from the production of raw products to products with greater added value, Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia assessed.
Businesses have received a lot of orders, especially from the US and EU. This is the effect of the bilateral cooperation between Vietnam, the United States and the EU as well as the implementation of free trade agreements, helping wood industry enterprises to gain deeper access to traditional markets.
Regarding the US investigation of a number of wood products imported from Vietnam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said that the wood processing and manufacturing industry needed to produce professionally and carefully to show other countries that Vietnam is moving towards a transparent trade and a reliable partner of the markets.
According to Mr. Bui Chinh Nghia, Deputy General Director of the VNFOREST, in order to gradually meet demand for transparent domestic raw materials, the VNFOREST will implement the plan to grant certificates of sustainable forest management. The VNFOREST will work closely with the International Program for Forest Certification (PEFC) to accelerate the recognition of the national forest certification system and qualify for linkage with the PEFC forest certification.
