Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – More than 400 Vietnamese firms areexporting timber products to Europe, which is the 4th biggest marketfor Vietnam’s wood exports, accounting for over 10 percent of the country’stotal export of the products.
Vietnam’s export of wood products to the EU isexpected to get a boost with the signing of the Forest Law Enforcement,Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) between thetwo sides in Brussels, Belgium, on October 19.
According to Vice Chairman and General Secretary of VietnamTimber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES) Nguyen Ton Quyen, EU isconsidered a very important market for Vietnamese timber products. FLEGT-VPAwill help Vietnam export directly to 28 European countries without having to gothrough intermediary countries.
Quyen said the market would grow. In a fewyears, wood export value to the EU would grow from 700 million USD today tomore than 1 billion USD.
To fulfill criteria set by the European market, Vietnamesefirms have to obtain certificates and carry out paperwork to clarify the legalorigin of their timber products.
In response to the requirement, a number of localities havedeveloped wood material zones meeting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)standards.
The northern province of Tuyen Quang has 19,700 ha of FSC-certificatedforests to date and is striving to have another 4,500 – 5,000ha certified in2019. Meanwhile, central Quang Tri province ranks first in the country withmore than 25,000 ha of certified forests.
Vietnam is one of the world’s leading wood processing andexporting countries with an export turnover of 8 billion USD in 2017. Thefigure is expected to hit 9 billion USD this year.
The country earned more than 7.61 billion USD from exportsof forestry products between January and October, 84 percent of the yearlytarget. Timber and wood products contributed 7.23 billion USD to the revenue.
The nation sets a target of 20 billion USD in wood exportsby 2025.-VNA
VNA
