Preliminary statistics from the General Department of Customs show that by the end of August this year, our country's export of wood and wood products reached 10.4 billion USD, a sharp increase of 22.6% over the same period last year.

Notably, in addition to main items such as wooden furniture, wooden frame chairs... wood chip and wood pellet exporting enterprises also earned nearly 2 billion USD in just 7 months of 2024.

Specifically, wood chip exports reached over 1.5 billion USD, a sharp increase of 28% over the same period last year. Accordingly, wood chips are the third highest export item in the forestry industry, just behind wooden furniture and wooden frame chairs.

Wood pellets export turnover reached 422.5 million USD, up 11.2% over the same period last year.

wood pellet
Wood chip and wood pellet exports reached nearly 2 billion USD in 7 months of 2024. Illustration photo: Kim Truong Phuc

At a recent briefing of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on some solutions to overcome agricultural production after the recent storm No. 3, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that the storm caused many areas of forest in some northern provinces to collapse, causing significant damage.

Preliminary statistics show that Lang Son had about 2,000 hectares of planted forests damaged by storm No. 3, while Bac Giang also had 5,100 hectares damaged. In addition, forests in Hai Phong, Ninh Binh... were also damaged, but to a lesser extent.

According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, wood chips and wood pellets are popular in the markets. Therefore, the forestry sector needs to guide localities and forest owners whose forests have been affected by storms to review the current situation for handling.

For areas of fallen trees that cannot be restored, they should be harvested immediately and replaced with new ones. Small trees and branches should be collected and chopped into wood chips and wood pellets for sale, helping people minimize damage, the Deputy Minister emphasized.

To overcome and minimize damage to forest areas caused by natural disasters, the Forestry Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountains and the Red River Delta to handle and exploit fallen forests.

Specifically, for planted forests owned by forest owners, the forest owners decide on exploitation, utilization, and harvesting. After exploitation, the forest owners are responsible for replanting the forest in the next crop when the weather is favorable.

For production forests which are planted forests owned by the State as representative owner, and protection forests which are planted forests, the organization shall assess the extent of damage and estimate the value of recovered forest products.

In which, the forest area is severely damaged, the forest trees are completely broken or the remaining trees do not meet the criteria for forest formation (fallen or broken rate is over 70%), then all the trees will be exploited and collected. After that, the forest owner is responsible for replanting the forest immediately in the next crop when the weather is favorable.

As for the lightly damaged forest area, the remaining trees that meet the criteria to become a forest will only be collected from fallen or broken trees.

Procedures for exploiting, utilizing and recovering timber from planted forests damaged by storms are implemented according to regulations in Circular No. 26 and Circular No. 22 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Forestry Department requests local authorities to provide guidance on the exploitation, utilization, and immediate recovery of fallen forest trees when the weather is favorable. In addition, closely inspect and supervise the implementation, and at the same time create favorable conditions for purchasing and processing facilities in the area to purchase all of these forest products.

Earning 8.1 billion USD, Vietnam's strength receives more good news from the US . With strong growth in the first months of the year, a Vietnamese strength has earned 8.1 billion USD. Recently, this industry has also received more good news from the US market.