Woodwork Export Revenue Surges 12 per cent in January
Vietnam is estimated to rake in US$190 million from woodwork exports in the first month of 2007, presenting on year rise of 11.9 per cent, according to latest report by the General Statistics Office.
However, the country bought $42 million worth of timber for processing, down 10.2 per cent compared with Jan last year.
Last year, Vietnam earned $2.2 billion from woodwork exports, but spent nearly $1 billion importing materials.
Nguyen Ton Quyen, chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Viforest), said the timber industry has increased its total woodworks revenue target to $5.5 billion in 2010.
Quyen, however, has not revealed specific figures of 2007 export revenue, stressing that Viforest and local manufacturers are striving to raise supplies of locally grown timber and processing capacity.
Presently, as much as 80 per cent of wood material available in Vietnam is imported.
Quyen said only a handful of companies are able to export 100 containers of woodwork products a month, and few farmers have allocated more than 10 hectares of land for forestation.
Due to low farming and processing capacity, Quyen said local enterprises miss out on large, lucrative supply contracts. In addition, middle-men cut profit margins across the board.
Thus, all the some 1,200 manufacturers need to work together to further expand the timber industry. (GSO Jan Edition)
Vietnamese
