Despite many difficulties, the wood and forest products export market shows positive prospects in early 2024.
Export surplus of 2.4 billion USD in 2 months
Information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development indicates that, in the first two months of 2024, the export value of wood and forest products reached $2.68 billion. This represents a 47.4% increase over the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, the import value was $355 million, up 31%. Consequently, the trade balance shows a surplus estimated at over $2.4 billion.
Chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (Viforest), Do Xuan Lap, analyzed the situation. In the past two months, Vietnam’s key wood export items were furniture, seats, wood chips, plywood, and pellets.
For 2024, the wood industry aims to export $15.2 billion. Of this, over $14.2 billion will come from wood and wood products, reflecting a 6% increase from 2023. Wood exports are expected to thrive in 2024. The U.S., China, South Korea, and the EU remain stable and potential markets for Vietnam’s furniture exports.
Focus on sustainable market development
To concretize export sales, the VietNam wood industry is focusing on many key issues including promoting the market towards sustainable development. Because if the market is not built well, it will greatly affect wood export sales in 2024.
Accordingly, in the first quarter of 2024, the Association has successfully coordinated to organize a series of wood industry fairs in March, including: Furniture & Furniture Export Fair (Hawa Expo) 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City and the International Outdoor Style Fair in Quy Nhon (Q-FAIR) 2024. This is also the first and largest fair of the wood industry on outdoor goods, a place to trade and create opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to reach out to international customers.
Hawa Expo 2024 takes place from 6th to 9th March at SECC
On the other hand, Viforest also supports businesses associated with digital transformation, improving modern management capacity, and applying information technology to management. Especially renovating equipment to improve added value, improve labor productivity, create competitiveness for enterprises.
