PM expects wood processing to become spearhead economic sector

On March 28, the Government leader issued Directive 08/CT-TTg on solutions to promote the rapid and sustainable development of the wood processing sector, setting a target to earn US$11 billion from wood and non-timber forest product exports this year, US$12-13 billion by 2020 and US$18-20 billion by 2025.

The sector should build brands for locally made wooden products, making Vietnam one of the leading processors of wood, wooden products and non-timber forest products in the global market.

To achieve these targets, the prime minister asked for the strict deployment of the Forestry Law, passed in 2017, with a focus on simplifying administrative procedures to help wood processors and exporters and building forestry development strategies for the 2021-2030 period.

The Government will continue adopting preferential credit and land policies and encouraging stronger partnerships among wood-processing companies. A large-scale raw wood market will be built to distribute materials for processing factories.

In addition, PM Phuc asked the sector to step up the application of technologies to the processing of wood and non-timber forest products.

He also called for the enhancement of forest plantation and manpower training, expecting at least one product from the forestry sector to be listed as a national product.

Under the directive, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will have to coordinate with the relevant ministries and agencies to review and amend unreasonable regulations on land management, apply advanced technologies to forest plantation and preservation and wood processing, and build links between forest growers and wood processing and exporting enterprises.

At present, some 4,500 enterprises are operating in the sector, which reported an annual export growth of 13% in the past decade.

Last year, the country’s total export revenue from wood and non-timber forest products reached over US$9.38 billion, up 15.9% over 2017. Vietnam’s wooden products have been exported to 120 countries and territories worldwide, making the country the second largest wood exporter in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.