The 2023 wood industry overview report by the Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association shows that 2023 is a difficult year for Vietnam's wood industry as consumers tighten their spending. However, wood chip and pellet exports still earn nearly 2,9 billion USD.
Specifically, our country exported nearly 14,42 million tons of wood chips, worth 2,22 billion USD, 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% in value 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.
With wood pellets, our country exported 4,67 million tons last year, earning nearly 680 million USD, down 4,3% in volume and 13,7% in value compared to 2022, accounting for 5,2 % of total export turnover of the wood industry.
Vietnamese pellet products are exported to 22 countries and territories in 2023. Japan and Korea are still the two largest customers of Vietnamese wood pellets.
Of which, Japan imported more than 2,8 million tons of pellets from our country, with a value of 438 million USD, an increase of 12,4% in volume and 14,3% in value compared to 2022. In contrast, Korea The country imported just over 1,7 million tons of pellets, worth nearly 214 million USD, down 24,5% in volume and 43,3% in value compared to 2022.
Commenting on the market for these products this year, Mr. To Xuan Phuc - Executive Director of the Forest Products Trade Policy Program, Forest Trends Organization - said that wood pellets still have many opportunities to promote export. exported to the Japanese market. Particularly, the pellet market in Korea is not expected to have many changes in the near future because the country's importers prioritize cheap pellet sources.
Regarding wood chips, according to Mr. Phuc, China's import demand tends to continue to decline in the near future, leading to a decrease in chip export prices in this market.
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 wood scraps, wood chips, shavings, sawdust... are also used to produce pellets and wood chips.
At the beginning of this year, wood industry exports recovered strongly. Last January, wood chip export turnover reached 1 million USD, up 217,5% over the same month last year; Wood pellets reached 21,7 million USD, an increase of 73,5%.
Experts predict that wood chips and wood pellets still have a lot of potential and room for development. In particular, wood pellet turnover could reach 1 billion USD in the near future. Businesses need to consider investing in building raw material sources to ensure a stable supply for production and export.
