Forest product exports projected to reach USD 15.5 billion in 2021

Conference to review activities in the first half of the year and implement tasks for the second half of 2021 of Vietnam Administration of Forestry – VNFOREST on July 7 assessed overall that forest product exports and forest development progress increased while the rate and area of forest damage reduced.

In the field of forest product exploitation, the output of timber harvested from concentrated plantations during Jan-June reached about 6.8 million m3, equaling 32% of the 2021 plan and 114% interannually.

Forest product exports were estimated at USD8.71 billion, up 61.6% over the same period last year. It is forecasted that in 2021, forest product exports will reach about USD15.5 billion USD, a 17% increase against last year. The trade surplus was estimated at USD7.2 billion, up 67.4%.

Regarding forest development, in the first 6 months of the year, localities have prepared 658 million seedlings for afforestation, equating to 145% of the same period last year. The planted forest area under the control of varieties reaches 85%. As many as three new high-yield and high-quality forestry plant varieties have been recognized.

The area of the newly concentrated plantation forest was 108,258 ha, reaching 41.6% of the plan and that of the whole year is expected to reach 260,000 ha, completing 100% of the plan.

In the first 6 months of 2021, the Administration has focused on timely and appropriate solutions to the actual situation to solve outstanding problems. Timely advise and propose inspection teams on forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting in key provinces, and coordinate well with agencies and units in forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting.

At the conference, the administration reported that the works of forest protection, forest fire prevention, and fighting continue to be concerned and directed by localities. However, there are still some hot spots for deforestation in some provinces such as Bac Kan, Son La, Thua Thien - Hue, Dak Nong, Gia Lai.

In the first 6 months of the year, there were 109 wildfires in the whole country, equivalent to the same period in 2020. The accumulated damaged forest area in the first 6 months of the year was 1,210 ha, a decrease of 1,380 ha (equivalent to a decrease of 53%) year on year. In which, the area damaged by forest fires is 283 ha, and 672 ha due to illegal deforestation.

On the other hand, due to the influence of intense heat, dryness, and drought that lasted for many days right in the burning season, several wildfires occurred. Violations on illegal deforestation and exploitation of forest products still exist in hot spots, especially in the illegal transportation and storage of forest products and against law enforcement officers in the Central Highlands provinces.

Preparing scenarios to overcome challenges

According to Bui Chinh Nghia, Vice Director General of VNFOREST said that the unit had built up a scenario for the forest industry in 2021 amidst the uncertainties of Covid-19 worldwide.

In recent years, enterprises in the field of forest products have collected series of orders from countries around the world, especially from the United States and Europe. Bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and the United States as well as the implementation of EVFTA agreements has brought into play effectively, helping wood industry enterprises to access deeper into traditional markets.

Nghia said that concurrently with exports, the import value of forest products has also increased. It is expected that the import value of raw materials for export processing is estimated at over USD 3 billion, up by more than 20% year on year.

Along with that, domestic raw materials gradually meet the needs of the wood processing industry. Thus, Vietnam will have an impressive trade surplus of the wood industry in 2021.

“In 2021, deep-processed products with high added value will continue to be promoted. For example, furniture, kitchen cabinets have had strong growth, more than 40%. Step by step, Vietnam's wood industry has had a shift from producing raw products to products with greater added value," said the leader of VNFOREST.

Deputy Minister of MARD Le Quoc Doanh highly valued the good results gained by the VNFOREST over the six months. He stressed that the forest industry has advantages from the previous development foundation over the past few years, features a rapid and sustainable growth pace. However, the industry is tackling challenges from the general impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disaster, and competing in the market.

Therefore, the Deputy Minister demanding the industry leaders to absolutely not be subjective: “We need to come up with scenarios together in advance to anticipate possible difficulties, avoid confusion when encountering unexpected cases during the implementation of projects and plans.”