Vietnam gets US$ 2.9 billion from selling wood chips and pellets

The 2023 wood industry overview report by the Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association shows that 2023 was a difficult year for Vietnam's wood industry as consumers tightened their spending. However, wood chip and pellet exports still brought nearly US$ 2.9 billion to Vietnam.

Specifically, our country exported nearly 14.42 million tons of wood chips, worth US$ 2.22 billion, accounting for 16.8% of the total export turnover of the entire wood industry. Compared to 2022, wood chip exports decreased by 8.8% in volume and decreased by 20.4% in value but increased by 5.9% in volume and increased sharply by 27.7% compared to 2021.

Our country's wood scrap products are exported to 13 markets. China and Japan are Vietnam's two largest import markets, accounting for 92.4% of total output and 92.2% of total export value.

According to the Forestry Department, in 2023, the entire industry will exploit about 19 million ster of firewood (unit of volume of firewood). This is the main input material for wood chip and pellet production. In addition, by-products of the wood processing and manufacturing industry, such as scraps, chips, shavings, sawdust... are also used to produce wood pellets and chips.

Mr. Nguyen Chanh Phuong, Director of Danh Moc Company, Vice President of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (Hawa), said that from August last year until now, export sales of wood and wood products of Vietnam increased by an average of 3-5%. In January, export turnover of wood and wood products earned nearly US$1.5 billion, up more than 72% over the same period last year and is on the rise. Exports of wood chips and pellets in the first month of the year increased by over 22% over the same period last year.

"With the current strong growth rate, Vietnam can reach US$ 17 billion this year," Mr. Phuong said.

Similarly, according to wood chip exporters, this group still has much potential for development. Wood pellet turnover could reach US$ 1 billion in the near future.