The value includes about 15.85 billion USD worth of timber and wood products, rising 7%, and 1.1 billion USD worth of non-timber products, falling 1.3%.
Meanwhile, timber and wood product imports increased 4.1% to 2.82 billion USD.
That resulted in a trade surplus of 14.1 billion USD, up 6.5% from last year, statistics show.
Despite market fluctuations due to impacts of the Russia - Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, forestry exports have still been on the rise thanks to the Government’s directions, ministries and sectors’ moves, and businesses’ efforts to surmount difficulties, Deputy General Director Bui Chinh Nghia told the administration’s conference in Hanoi on December 30.
The US, Japan, China, the EU, and the Republic of Korea were the main markets, purchasing 15.48 billion USD worth of forestry products from Vietnam, equivalent to over 90% of the total.
For 2023, the sector targets 17.5 billion USD worth of forestry exports, a growth rate of 5 - 5.5% in forestry production value, and forest coverage maintained at 42%, Nghia noted.
