The country is in track to post earnings of U.S. $ 500mil from wooden furniture exports in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 7%, reported by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.Industry image analysts say will exceed $ 2bil the end of the year it / them.

The EU market is expected to become increasingly important industry. With increasing demand for imports of furniture in the second and third quarter of 2005, block imports $ 150mil from the Vietnamese furniture, according to statistics announced by the Ministry of Trade.

Analysts said the local furniture industry manufacturers must improve trade promotion to boost sales, particularly in other EU markets such as Latvia, Malta and Estonia, which remain untapped by Vietnamese exporters. Ministry of Trade said the French, British, German, Dutch and Spanish are the main importers of Vietnamese trade union-made wood furniture.

State of the industry of wood processing is still dependent on imports of wood. Manufacturers import almost 2.5mil cu.m of wood per year to meet the needs of local production, the ministry said. However, the industry faces widespread shortages for ban on log exports from Indonesia and Malaysia, the main supplier of wood.

According to the Ministry of Industry, Vietnam spends U.S. $ 127mil in imports of timber in the first quarter of 2006, down by 17% from the same period last year.

To win the shortcomings, the processor wood suppliers look to Africa, but the added shipping costs mean wood is 30% more expensive, he said.

Representatives from leading companies in the industry of wood processing has asked Government to improve forest cultivation and sign bilateral trade agreements with African countries.

They proposed that since many countries in Africa are a significant number of Vietnamese imports of rice, the country must make a rice-for-timber trade program.

(Source: Viet Nam News)