the timber network

Vietnam’s exports of wood products are estimated to reach $2.2 billion in 2006, up 38% from 2005, according to the Vietnam Forest and Wood Products Association (VFWPA). The export value has grown tenfold in six years. VFWPA said that wood processors could see an annual turnover of $5.5 billion by 2010 and help the country surpass China as the largest wood furniture supplier to the USA. Vietnam is already the third largest exporter of wood products to the Japanese market, after China and Thailand and the fourth largest in Southeast Asia. Vietnam has about 1,200 enterprises processing and exporting wood products, 200 of which are foreign-invested. Binh Duong Province is the leading producer of wood products for export, accounting for over one-third of the country’s total wood export value. The nation’s recent accession to the WTO will present even more growth opportunities for the wood processing industry, according to the Ministry of Trade, as Vietnam would be able to import raw materials at lower costs as well as export processed wood products to foreign markets without facing additional duties or trade barriers. VFWPA observed that Vietnamese wood processing and exporting enterprises had advantages such as skilled workers and a favourable seaport system. However, it acknowledged some challenges, including shortages in domestic raw material which could only meet 20% of current demand.