Furniture made at the Kaiser Wood Industry Company in Binh Duong Province. Wood export firms hope to boost their business following restructuring of the forestry sector. — VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Wood export firms have pegged their hopes on the outcome of the forestry restructuring plan to assure the recognition of a Vietnamese wood brand and to expand market share.

While the sector's restructuring efforts started two years ago, Viet Nam is expected to become a wooden product exporter to the world of legal timber with the assistance of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT), which is expected to be signed by the end of this year.

According to the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry, the department would create programmes to encourage wood processing firms to co-operate with forest planters to develop stable raw material areas for processing and exporting.

In addition, specialised wood processing zones would be developed, coupled with the setting up of databases of forestry exports.

Wood as raw materials in Viet Nam has not met production demands, to date, but its prices were more stable in comparison with imports and their origins are clearly marked.

Further, many processing firms increased their use of domestic wood as raw materials.

Meanwhile, Duong Phu Minh Hoang, director of Cam Ha Company which exports 70 per cent of its wood products to the EU, said that the company purchases some 50 per cent of its timber from domestic sources each year.

Huynh Trinh, director of Da Nang Forestry Export Product Company which had an annual export turnover of US$3 million, said the company only uses domestic wood with legal origins as raw materials.

The Viet Nam Administration of Forestry has forecast that Viet Nam would have a total area of 16.5 million ha of forests by 2020, 50 per cent of which would be for production, becoming an important source of raw material for wood processing.

The Viet Nam Wood and Forestry Product Association, the sector was expecting to expand exports to markets, including India, the Middle East and South America.

Further, the industry expect to reach an export turnover of $7 billion this year.

In the first half of this year, exports of wood products were reported at $3.13 billion, representing a rise of 8 per cent over the same period last year. — VNS