Wooden furniture exporters expect bright prospects in 2019

Along with the growth in the US market, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are also forecast to help increase orders for the sector.

However, the domestic wood sector is also likely to encounter difficulties in the year, especially from the shifting of production from foreign countries into Vietnam.

Unofficial statistics showed that in 2018, about 65 foreign wood firms invested in Vietnam, 23 of them came from China, posing fierce competition to domestic wood and handicraft enterprises.

Last year, Vietnam earned over US$9.3 billion from forestry exports, up 15.9% year on year. The figure helped the forestry sector to see a trade surplus of US$7 billion.

The wood processing industry officially surpassed the fishery sector to become the top foreign currency earner in the agricultural sector.

In 2019, the export revenue of forestry products is hoped to hit US$10.5 billion.