HCM City (VNA) - Despite the impacts fromthe COVID-19 pandemic, wood and wooden product exports still posted impressivegrowth due to the efforts of many businesses to apply advanced technology,develop new products, and make use of online marketing channels.

Despite being repeatedly disrupted by thepandemic, the exportation of wood and wooden products still posted growth ofover 16 percent in 2020 and the upwards trend continued in the first quarter of2021.

Forestry shipments neared 4 billion USD from Januaryto March, up 41.5 percent year-on-year. This included almost 3.7 billion USDworth of wood and wooden products and 243 million USD worth of non-wood forestryproducts, up 41.5 percent and 38.4 percent, respectively, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

That turned the wood industry into the leadingdriver of agricultural and forestry exports during the period.

Nguyen Chanh Phuong, Vice Chairman of theHandicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), said that bytapping into its production advantages and market opportunities, Vietnam hassurpassed Poland, Germany, and Italy to become the world’s second-largest wood andwooden product exporter, behind China.

He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic hashampered global trade, including the export of wood and wooden products, but atthe same time created new market opportunities.

The outbreak forced people in many countries andregions, especially the US, the EU, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, which aremajor importers of Vietnamese wooden items, to be at home more frequently,leading to greater demand for products used in the home.

Many international purchasers, he added, haveswitched to Vietnamese products as the country has a safe productionenvironment thanks to its successful pandemic control, while producers in manyother countries have had to suspend production and close factories.

Vietnam’s wood and furniture businesses are alsorelatively accomplished at recognising and seizing market opportunities.

Tran Lam Son, director of marketing and qualitymanagement at the Thien Minh Furniture company, pointed out that the recentshift in global wood product and furniture supply chains has benefited Vietnam.

International purchasers have increasinglyvalued the production capacity, design, and technology of Vietnamese wood producers.Moreover, due to supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, globaldistributors now tend to diversify and seek safer supply sources, and Vietnammeets their requirements, he went on.

Pham Thi Hong Quang, General Director of theViet Source Handicraft Co. Ltd, revealed that her company’s revenue soared 40percent last year despite the tense developments from coronavirus outbreaks at certainpoints of time. The number of orders in the opening months of this year continuedto rise as foreign importers began stockpiling products to prepare for theyear-end shopping season.

She noted that after recognising that thepandemic could be a chance for wood and furniture products to grow, her companymoved to modernise its factory and technology to improve productivity whiledeveloping new products to meet demand.

However, Duong Thi Minh Tue, member of HAWA’sexecutive board, suggested that as wood industry trade fairs could not takeplace due to the pandemic, businesses should optimise all possible tradepromotion channels, from online to offline, to maintain links with partners.

Phuong also spoke of the need to capitalise ontechnology and digital transformation to further access buyers, adding that itis also important to promote workplace productivity and manufacture productswith clear origin and that are environmentally-friendly, so as to maintain Vietnam’snew foothold in the global wooden product market./.