Related
Vietnam has become the biggest furniture exporter in the Asean market, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The ministry was quoting figures from the American Hardwood Export Council. The export turnover of locally made wood products reached US$2.5 billion in 2007 and may reach $3 billion in 2008, the Ministry said. Vietnamese as well as Chinese products are seen as having high quality and good design.
Export turnover in the first half of the year for Vietnamese wood products reached $1.36 billion, an increase of 20.4 per cent over the previous year. This turnover accounted for nearly 46 per cent of the total export target for 2008.
Export turnover from products sold in the US, the largest importer of Vietnamese furniture, amounted to $450 million. In the first half of the year, export turnover for the US market increased 16.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2007.
The major importers of Vietnamese furniture are Japan, China and Europe. Vietnam has a total of 937 companies involved in export of wood products including furniture, a year-on-year increase of 21 per cent. Foreign-invested wood companies led in export value.
This article first appeared on www.vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn
July 30, 2008
| 1 Comment(s) |
|
|||||
|
This is good economic news for Vietnam, however it does raise some concern. With Vietnam's present population hovering at or over 90 million people, and their expansion out of traditional lowland to Highland areas, large tracts of virgin timber have disappeared to make way for farms and settlements. One hopes that the government has a dynamic reforestation program underway, and more importantly, one that seeks to maintain a balance of those rare native species of tropical hardwoods with the pine and other fast growing species often favored by tree farmers.
|
|||||
sponsors
