Panels & Furniture Asia November/December 2023

NEWS
VIETNAM TIMBER MARKET SEES IMPROVEMENT,
ESPECIALLY TO NON-TRADITIONAL EXPORT MARKETS
Although Vietnam’s wood industry is still facing
many difficulties, wood and wood product
exports have shown positive signals with orders
coming from key markets such as the US and
Europe, and businesses are likely regaining
consumers.
This has led to an increased demand
for imported wood raw material for the
manufacture of value-added products for
export. Imports of roundwood and sawnwood
from the EU are expected to increase slightly
from now to the end of 2023.
favoured products are not being manufactured
by Vietnam.
For now, only the younger consumers are using
products similar to western countries. For the
Middle East there was an increased demand for
construction wood in the early months of the
year, as some were facing difficulties in securing
timber from their traditional suppliers due to
economic and political uncertainties.
Although their purchases remain limited, the
Middle East’s rising import of Vietnamese timber
offers new hopes for Vietnamese enterprises amid
the current economic. P
Source: ITTO
India and the Middle East offer new opportunity
for Vietnam’s timber exporters. With the sharp
fall in exports of wood products to traditional
and well-established markets such as the US,
China, Japan, South Korea and the EU, India
and the Middle East are emerging as new
opportunities for Vietnamese exporters.
According to the Vietnam Timber and Forest
Products Association (VIFOREST), Vietnam’s
wood export orders for the US in H1 2023 fell by
around 30%, depending on product categories,
while those for the EU market also shrank by
around 40%.
India and the Middle East are becoming
prospective markets for Vietnamese wood
products, although the revenue remains low
with no large and long-term orders. India is
not Vietnam’s main timber export market but
customs data showed export earnings in the
early months of 2023 have already reached
US$21m, three times higher than the same
period last year.
Vietnam’s main export to India is mediumdensity
fibreboard (MDF) which accounted
for 47% of total exports. Similarly, Vietnam’s
wood exports to Middle Eastern countries also
witnessed strong growth with revenues from
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) up by 38% to
$11m. The main exports to this market were
construction wood, chairs and other wooden
items.
But according to enterprise leaders, the tastes
in the Indian market are different from that
of the European and US markets, as their
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