Vietnam ranks world’s third in wooden furniture export

According to International Trade Center (ITC), the average annual export value of wooden furniture on the world market reached USD 68.3 billion, with an average growth rate of 2.7%. in the period 2015-2020.

EU remains the largest wooden furniture exporter in the world with an average annual export value reaching USD 26.8 billion. The average growth rate in wooden furniture export of EU was 2,8% between 2015 and 2020. EU wooden furniture in 2020 accounted for 38.1% of the total value of wooden furniture exports in the world.

Followed by China with the wooden furniture exports in 2020 accounted for 27.3% of the total export value globally. However, China's market share is on a hardy downward trend. In 2015, China accounted for 35.6% of the total value of wooden furniture exports in the world, only slightly lower than 38% of the EU and much higher than Vietnam (5.8%). But by 2020, China just accounted for 27.3%.

Meanwhile, despite ranking third, Vietnam's market share has been greatly improved. If in 2015, Vietnam only accounted for 5.8% market share of wooden furniture exports in the world, by 2020, it made up 14.5%, an increase of nearly three-fold.

The market share of Vietnam's export wooden furniture in the world market has improved markedly thanks to the very strong growth in exports of this item. In the period 2015-2020, the average growth rate of Vietnam's wooden furniture exports is very high at 25.4%, with an average export value of  USD5.64 billion per year.

The export growth rate of Vietnamese wooden furniture is the highest among the top 10 export markets and much higher than other markets in the period 2015-2020 comparing to EU increased by 2.8%; China 2.5%; Malaysia 6.5%; Turkey 5.6%...Compared to the overall growth rate of the world's wooden furniture exports of 2.7%, the growth rate of Vietnamese wooden furniture is nine times higher.

According to Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association, wooden furniture is accounting for the largest value in the total value of furniture exports of Vietnam. In 2020, wooden products exports in Vietnam reached USD 5.679 billion, of which, bedroom furniture was USD1.373 billion; kitchen furniture was USD 679 million; office furniture was USD 434 million USD and wooden furniture was USD 1.939 billion. Besides, Vietnam also exported wooden chairs with a value of up to USD2.67 billion.

The main export markets of Vietnam's wooden furniture are the US, Japan, Korea, Australia, and the UK.

Nguyen Chanh Phuong, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Woodworking Association (HAWA), said that if take the individual markets as an exception, Vietnam is currently ranked second in the world (followed China) in terms of market share of wood and wooded products export.

Americans willing to buy Vietnamese wooden furniture

Overcome series of challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic, freight charge, disruption in material supply, over the first five months of this year, the wood industry brought USD 6.6 billion, up 61.3% year on year.

Currently, Vietnam's export of wood and wood products only accounts for about 9% of the market share, with more than 90% of the market share for the Vietnamese wood industry to approach and dominate.

With the current strong and impressive export growth rate, Vietnam is not the 5th country in the world in exporting wooden furniture, but it can go further to rank 4th and 3rd in the world in this field.

The US is currently the largest export market of the Vietnamese wood industry. There are several opportunities for Vietnam to gain more export growth to the US, especially in terms of wooden furniture. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) forecasts single-family housing starts to be around 1.134 million, 1.165 million single-family homes in 2022, and 1.210 million in 2023. The US housing market grew strongly, leading to a great opportunity for wooden furniture supplier markets, including Vietnam.

Over the past time, Vietnam's wood brand in the US market has improved markedly and secures a foothold. American people are willing to buy Vietnamese wooden furniture products, despite their prices are more costly than similar products in other markets.

Thanks to the improvement in production technology and good use of market opportunities, the wood industry, especially the furniture group, has maintained a high growth rate in the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.