Vietnam's turnover for wood and woodwork during the first nine months of 2017 amounted to $5.55 billion, representing a 11.3% increase over the same period of 2016.
The Vietnamese companies usually export more in the last months of year and, therefore, analysts predict that the total export turnover in 2017 will reach $8 billion, or 14% higher than last year. In 2016, the export turnover of wood, non-wood forestry products and woodwork was $7.3 percent, of which wooden exports brought $5.12 billion, up by 7.1 percent over the year before, Vietnam Net reported.
Huynh Van Hanh, deputy chair of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC (Hawa), explained that companies obtained two-digit export growth rate this year because they invested in technology and design.
Many enterprises expanded their factories and set up more production lines with advanced technologies. Others increased investment capital by two or three times. The moves helped them obtain more orders from importers. In the past, Vietnamese enterprises simply did outsourcing according to the designs given to them. But now, they design new products and export products under their own names, according to Vietnam Net.
The Vietnamese companies can now afford modern technologies and install new production lines, which would raise the productivity value by $15,000 per year.
Also, the Vietnamese manufacturers on the domestic market target the high-end market segment, which was previously dominated by imports. At some construction works, 80 percent of woodwork is made in Vietnam. The domestic market grew by 5-6 percent per annum and the consumption is expected to increase to $2 billion this year.
Vietnam only imports $68 million worth of wooden furniture products every year, mostly from China.
