According to data released by the General Administration of Vietnam Customs, from January to November 2023, Vietnam's export value of timber and wood products was estimated at US$12.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 17%. Among them, the export value of wood products was estimated to reach US$8.3 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 19%.
In terms of a single month, in November 2023, Vietnam's total exports of wood and wood products reached US$1.3 billion, a month-on-month increase of 1.4% and a year-on-year increase of 11%. Among them, the total export volume of wood products accounted for 67.69% to US$880 million, an increase of 0.8% month-on-month and a year-on-year increase of 15.7%.
On the other hand, Vietnam's wooden furniture exports suffered a "big decline" in 2023, and exports suffered a substantial decline for the first time in many years of rapid growth.
Judging from the import situation, Vietnam's import volume of wood raw materials reached 406,300 cubic meters in November, a month-on-month increase of 10%; the import value reached 133 million US dollars, a month-on-month increase of 10%.
As a major wood products production and manufacturing country in the world, Vietnam also has a high demand for logs. However, due to the reduction in international market demand last year, Vietnam's log imports from January to November 2023 are estimated to be 4.054 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year decrease of 27%; the import value reached US$1.376 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 35%.
It is worth mentioning that Vietnam has now become the world's second largest producer of wood pellets after the United States, with more than 95% of wood pellets exported to Asian markets, mainly South Korea and Japan.
In terms of export markets, Vietnam's largest export destination is the United States, with total exports to it in the first 11 months of 2023 reaching US$6.6 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 17.8%; followed by the Chinese market, reaching US$1.55 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 22.2%; to Japan Exports to South Korea fell by 11.5% to US$1.52 billion; exports to South Korea fell by 22.4% to US$718 million; exports to the Canadian market fell by 16.8% to US$183 million.