According to a report by Vietnam’ s Business News on September 8, the General Administration of Forestry of Vietnam stated that in the first eight months of this year, Vietnam’ s exports of timber and forest products reached 11.2 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 42.7%, of which timber and wood products exported 10.4 billion U.S. dollars. An increase of 41.9%, non-timber forest products exports 790 million US dollars, an increase of 54.2%. 

On the other hand, imports of timber and forest products amounted to US$2.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34.1%. As a result, the timber and forest products trade surplus in the first eight months of this year was US$9.1 billion.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam’ s timber and forest products were exported to more than 130 countries and regions. The United States, Japan, China, the European Union and South Korea were still the main export markets, accounting for more than 90% of Vietnam’ s total exports.

Relevant data shows: exports to the US market exceeded 6.7 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 59.8%; exports to the Japanese market were US$953 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%; exports to the Chinese market were US$1.008 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.6%; exports to the EU market were 782 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 32.8%; exports to the Korean market were US$605 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.5%.

According to Pei Zhengyi, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, despite the positive results achieved in the export of timber and forest products in the first eight months of this year, the current complex development of the COVID-19 epidemic has severely affected the production and processing activities of timber companies, especially in timber. The southern region where processing companies are concentrated (timber companies account for more than 70%, and exports account for 80% of Vietnam' s total exports). This is a direct impact on the industry from a global perspective and the general environment.

In addition, representatives of the Timber Association, the timber industry and enterprises all stated that in accordance with Vietnam’ s “3 on-site production (on-site production, on-site dining, and on-site rest)” and “two points and one line (the only centralized transportation of workers from the production area) for the route to accommodation, you can choose dormitories, hotels, centralized residences, etc. to "maintain production)" to increase the company' s operating costs by about 20-30%. And the proportion of wood industry workers vaccinated is very low, especially in Dong Nai and Binh Duong Pingding these severely affected places, as of the end of August, only about 15-20% of workers had been vaccinated.

All the above factors indicate that the Vietnamese timber industry is not as smooth as the data shows, and it is still unstable. Relevant departments and enterprises need to keep an eye on the trend of the epidemic, and the local government also needs to make greater efforts in epidemic prevention and control.