Vietnam earns more than 9.3 billion USD from forestry exports this year (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam earns more than9.3 billion USD from the export of forestry products in 2018, up 15.9 percentfrom last year, according to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST).
The revenue accounts for over 23 percent of the total agricultural exports thisyear, the VNFOREST said at a meeting on December 24, adding that the fivebiggest markets of the US, Japan, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea arethe destinations of 87.33 percent of the country’s forestry shipments.
Noting the fulfilment of all the set targets, the VNFOREST said the forestrysector recorded a 6.12-percent increase in its production value.
More than 231,520ha of concentrated forests were planted, 18.7 percent higherthan this year’s target. That has helped expand the forest coverage nationwideby 0.2 percent from a year earlier to 41.65 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of forestlaw violation cases was brought down by nearly 3,580 or 22 percent from lastyear. The area of damaged forests was also reduced by 515ha or 35 percent.
VNFOREST Deputy Director General Pham Van Dien said for 2019, the sectortargets a growth rate of 5.5-6 percent in the forestry production value, andover 10.5 billion USD in wood and forestry product exports.
It vows to protect and sustainably develop all the existing forests to raisethe nationwide coverage to 41.85 percent. Meanwhile, it will prevent and handleviolations of forest regulations in a timely manner so as to reduce the numberof violation cases and the deforested area by at least 10 percent and 20percent from 2018, respectively.
At the meeting, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuongsaid the forestry sector needs to concertedly and drastically implement the Lawon Forestry and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade VoluntaryPartnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA), which Vietnam recently signed with the EU.
He said the FLEGT-VPA will be a turning point of the sector, stressing that theenforcement of this agreement and the Forestry Law will create a foundation fordeveloping a sustainable forestry economy.–VNA
VNA
