Vietnam Adopts Ambitious Plan to Increase the Value of Wood and Wood Product Exports

Vietnam aims to increase the value of wood and wood product exports to $20 billion by 2025 and $25 billion by 2030 under a recently adopted national forestry plan, Vietnam Today reported (8-27-24).

Under the new plan, Vietnam aims to have over 15.8 million ha (39 million acres) of forests and forestland by 2030. This includes 15.5% allocated for special use forests, 33% for protective forests, and 51.5% for production forests. The goal is to maintain national forest coverage between 42–43% while significantly enhancing the quality of existing natural forests.

Specific targets include an annual forestry production growth rate of 5–5.5%, planting an average of 238,000 ha (588,000 acres) of production forests each year, and restoring 22,500 ha (56,000 acres) of natural forests annually. Over 1 million ha (2.5 million acres) of forests are expected to be certified for sustainable management by 2030.

Revenue from forest environmental services is anticipated to grow by 5% annually, with total annual earnings estimated at VND3.5 trillion ($140 million) from 2021–25 and VND4 trillion ($160 million) from 2026–30.

Vietnam expects these goals will require investment capital of over VND217.3 trillion ($8.68 billion).