Vietnam's timber exports surged 15.2% in 2013

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IHB/VNA
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According to statistics released by the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and compiled by Vietnam News Agency (VNA), wood exports totaled $5,37 billion in 2013, a 15.2% increase over 2012. The main destinations for Vietnam's timber exports were the US, China and South Korea.

In the past 10 years, the Vietnamese wood industry expanded rapidly, with an average export growth rate of 15.5% each year. ''Despite the increasing export turnover, the industry has still encountered several challenges, with heavy dependence on imported raw materials being one of the most significant'', said MARD's Forestry Department deputy director Nguyen Ba Ngai.

''The local resources of raw materials have failed to meet the demand from wood processors both in volume and quality. Thus, they had to import materials from overseas, with an average import growth of 12.1 percent during the 2007-12 period'', he stated.

Vietnam imported wood and wooden products worth $1.68 billion in 2013, a 24% year-on-year increase. ''Ensuring the supply of raw timber was the sector's top priority'', according to the Vietnam Wood and Forestry Product Association's general secretary, Nguyen Ton Quyen.

Vienam's national development strategy for the forest industry aims to satisfy both internal and export demand fully with domestic timber production. This means that until 2020, local producers are forced to import raw materials for export, many times at high prices, Mr. Quyen explained. "So they must seek solutions to increase their competitive capacity against wood product producers from other countries," Quyen added.

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