Wood exports plummet as amid virus outbreak
Date: 2021-09-13
News Type: Marketing News
Wood production and exports have hit a slump in recent months after showing strong numbers during
the first half of the year, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The country exported US$8.71 billion worth of wood products in the first half of 2021, a 62.9 percent
increase year on year. However, the sector has been hard hit by yet another outbreak of the virus.
The virus has paralyzed some of the largest production centers of the industry including the southern
provinces of Bình Dương and Đồng Nai, said Bùi Chính Nghĩa, deputy head of MARD's department of
forestry.
"We have seen significant drops in wood exports in recent months. Exports for June, July, and August
dropped by 16 percent compared to the previous three-month period. August saw the biggest drop at
22 percent compared to July," said Nghĩa.
More than half of the country's wood producers have had to shutter or scale down their operations since
the beginning of the pandemic said a recent report by the Association of Vietnam Timber and Forest Product.
To make matter worse, other costs including transport, raw materials, and container rental have also been on
the rise. Some markets have started to deploy defense mechanisms against Vietnamese products after a period
of unchecked rapid growth.
MARD Deputy Minister Lê Quốc Doanh said wood producers must carefully study trade barriers and anticipate
how certain markets might respond to Vietnamese products in advance.
"Firms must look at the big picture and come up with a long-term plan as we make the transition from forest production
to a forest economy," Doanh said.
The US continued to be Việt Nam's top buyer this year along with Japan, China, the EU, and South Korea. Together with the big
five markets account for 90 percent of the country's total export of wood products.
The sector had been forecast to grow by 15 percent this year, largely thanks to a number of free trade agreements including the
European Union–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for
Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that have recently been into effect.
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