Wood exports surge by 16 percent in Q1

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first quarter of this year, the export value of key forestry products reached about US$2.7 billion, an increase of 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
However, the widespread Covid-19 pandemic will seriously affect this industry in the months to come.

Surveys and data from 124 wood processing enterprises of the Vietnam Wood and Forest Product Association (Vifores), the Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the Forest Products Association of Binh Dinh (FBA), the Binh Duong Furniture Association (BIFA), and the US-based Forest Trends on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on wood exports showed that the industry’s export turnover and growth will decline heavily shortly. 76 percent of enterprises said that initial losses were more than VND3 trillion; 24 percent of enterprises said that they have not determined losses yet; 51 percent of enterprises curtailed their production scale; 35 percent of enterprises said that they are still operating normally but they will have to halt operations soon. Only 7 percent of enterprises still maintain normal operations but this might change any time, depending on the developments of the pandemic.

Among the 105 enterprises, there were 21,410 workers unemployed.

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