Vietnam’s forestry exports up 18.6% in first eight months

Vietnam’s forestry exports in the January-August period reached US$7.08 billion, up 18.6% over the same period of 2018, with timber and timber products bringing in US$6.66 billion.

Major destinations for Vietnamese forestry products are the US, Japan, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea. (Photo: VNA)
Major destinations for Vietnamese forestry products are the US, Japan, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea. (Photo: VNA)

Key destinations for Vietnamese forestry products stayed the same, including the US, Japan, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea, whose combined imports accounted for 80% of Vietnam’s total shipments.

Exports to the US were primarily interior wood products, construction wood and plywood, while Japan mainly imported wood chips, interior wood products, construction wood and plywood.

In the first eight months of 2019, Vietnam also imported US$1.673 billion worth of timber and timber products, up 14% year on year.

Vietnamese wood imports mainly came from China, the US, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand and France.

According to the General Department of Forestry, Vietnam harvested 13 million cubic metres of wood in the January-August period, up 5.4% from a year earlier. The figure for August alone was 1.68 million cubic metres.