Woodwork Exports Bring in US$1.35Bln in Three Quarters

Vietnam is estimated to have raked in US$1.352 billion from exporting woodwork products during the past three quarters of 2006, posting an on-year rise of 23.8 per cent, showed latest report of the General Statistics Office.

 

The country’s total timber import turnover, however, was also high, at some US$560 million in the Jan-Sep period of this year, up 16 per cent on year, accounting for nearly one third of total export revenue and revealing Vietnam’s heavy dependence on foreign materials.

 

The Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES) has forecast that with the growing of woodwork exports in the remaining months of this year, the country’s total export turnover from woodworks may surpass US$2 billion, an increase of nearly $500 million over last year.

The association, however, said Vietnam’s earnings from the US market in 2006 will remain the same as last year, noting that local enterprises should boost up promotion and marketing activities to attract more importers from this potential market.

 

Regarding the Japanese market, the second biggest importer of Vietnamese woodworks, the association suggested enterprises better preserve and develop product designs that suit the taste of Japanese consumers so as to increase export revenues in the remaining months of the year.

 

Meanwhile, VIFORES also said that more and more US enterprises, including well-known ones such as Bluestone Log and Timber Inc., B&B Lumber Co., and J&J Log & Lumber Corp, are realizing the Vietnam's potential as a market for material wood as well as an exporter of furniture.