In the first three quarters of this year, Vietnam's exports of wood products increased by 10.2%, with the largest increase in exports of wood products, reaching 8.57 billion pieces. But from the fourth quarter of this year, Vietnam's wood processing industry has suffered from a slowdown in global demand, with orders dwindling. Although the prices of other woods have also begun to drop, FSC-certified logs imported from the EU market are still expensive. Many manufacturers believe that FSC-certified logs may reduce the income of Vietnam's wood processing industry in the last quarter of this year.
The problem of rising costs has been affecting the development of the wood industry in various countries this year. Affected by multiple factors in the market, the price of wood imported to Vietnam has risen sharply this year. The price of wood used for the production of wood chips and pellets has increased from $40 per meter rose to $70-80 per cubic meter. In the face of high timber prices, the Vietnamese government also advocates the development of plantation forests, but everyone knows that imported timber is still irreplaceable in Vietnam.
Vietnam's wood processing industry has been developing steadily in recent years. The Vietnam Forestry Administration has set a target: the export value of wood and forest products should reach US$18-20 billion by 2025 and US$2.3-25 billion by 2030. However, in Vietnam's export market, many countries require the raw materials of wood products to be FSC certified. Whether there are enough FSC certified logs will directly affect the development of Vietnam's wood product export industry. Continuing to decline, producers will be less likely to invest in the field of FSC-certified wood materials.
Vietnam needs to import wood from nearly 80 countries every year, so policy changes in other countries may affect the development of Vietnam's wood processing industry, especially in recent years. In order to regulate the wood processing industry, Vietnam has started the "assessment and classification of wood processing and export enterprises" since May this year. The total number of enterprises that must be classified is as high as 1,200, but as of October 10, there are only 141 wood processing enterprises. and exporting businesses are classified as Category I.
In a short period of time, the situation of high global inflation and slowing demand will continue, and Vietnam's wood processing industry may not recover until next year.