Viet Nam gained high growth of 11 per cent year-on-year in the forestry export value in January to US$903 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Viet Nam Administration of Forestry.

Of which, the export value reached $852 million for timber and wood products, up 10 per cent year on year, and $51 million for non-timber forest products, up 20 per cent.

The major export market for local forest products included the US, Japan, EU, China and South Korea, accounting for about 87 per cent of the industry’s total export value.

In 2019, the forestry sector has set targets of growth at 5.5-6 per cent in production value and export value at $10.5 billion.

The ministry reported that Viet Nam gained a year-on-year increase of 15.9 per cent in export value to $9.3 billion last year.

The forestry industry achieved a trade surplus of about $7 billion this year, Pham Van Dien, deputy director of the administration said.

Viet Nam has 4,500 enterprises processing and exporting wood and forest products, including 1,863 exporters. They involved more than 700 foreign-invested businesses with a large production scale and application of technology for production. — VNS