Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam earned 4.15 billion USD from exports of wood and wooden products in the first six months of this year, marking an increase of 8.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

A report from the Vietnam ForestryAdministration under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development saidthat the US, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea remained the four largestimporters of wood and wooden products from Vietnam, accounting for 78 percentof the country’s total export value.

The country also spent nearly 1.1 billion USDimporting wood, up 2 percent year on year. Imports from the US, German andFrance rose during the first half of this year, while shipments from Cambodiaand Malaysia fell.

According to the Vietnam Timber and ForestProduct Association (Vifores), the drop in imports from Cambodia and Malaysiawas due to the fact that Chinese businesses had increased purchases fromneighbouring countries, including Cambodia and Malaysia. At the same time,Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar had tightened exports of timber due to a ban onshipments of logs and sawn timber from plantation forests.

Vifores said China had increased purchases ofraw materials from neighboring countries due to a lack of material in thecountry. In addition, due to the impacts of trade with the US, several Chineseenterprises planned to invest in Vietnam’s timber industry to take advantage ofcheap labour and preferential policies.

At the end of 2016, Chinese enterprises snappedup materials from timber plantations in the Central Highlands and southeasternregion, causing concerns over a lack of raw materials among domestic firms.

Although there are no detailed statistics, insouthern Binh Duong province where 600 enterprises are operating in the woodprocessing industry, one-third are from China and Taiwan.

This move is understandable as Chinese productsare subject to high anti-dumping duties in the US, which spends 30 billion USDper year on wooden products from China.

Pressure on raw material supplies, changes in UStrade policy, and an investment shift in the wood industry from China hadaffected and would continue to impact Vietnam, said Vifores.

Nguyen Quoc Tri, General Director of the VietnamForestry Administration, said more than 1,500 enterprises had signedcommitments to consume raw materials of clear origin and would not violateregulations of importing countries.

Vietnam plans to focus on investment inlarge-scale timber plantations, certification and affiliations with localforest growers to supply raw materials for the domestic processingindustry.-VNS/VNA