Vietnam's wood industry is expecting to reach this year's exporttarget of 5.5 billion USD, thanks to a recovery in exports of its woodproducts, experts have said.

The Ministry ofIndustry and Trade said that the wood industry gained a year-on-yearincrease of 12.5 percent, bringing the export value of this industry to2.46 billion USD for the first half of this year.

Traditional markets such as the US , Japan and China also had a strong surge in export values.

Dang Quoc Hung, deputy chairman of the Handicraft and Wood IndustryAssociation of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), said that exports of Vietnamesewood products to the US increased over the first half of this year,which signals a recovery.

The industry expected thatthe export of wood products will continue to increase in the secondhalf of this year, Hung said. The export value of wood products to theUS is estimated to reach 1.7 billion USD for the year.

In the second half of this year, Chinese demand for wood exports willsurge due to competitive pricing, he said. China will import 800million USD of woodchips from Vietnam this year.

The ministry said that the export value for wood products is expectedto increase by 10-15 percent, which will reach its export target of 5.5billion USD for the year.

However, Hung said, almostall of the wood processing businesses have faced higher import pricesfor their materials, yet they could not increase their selling price, sothey must have huge losses or might be even forced to stop production.

On the other hand, large businesses have managed tokeep up production because they have modern equipment which reduceslabour costs.

Companies have said that theGovernment should support them with low interest rate loans so that theycan upgrade their equipment and technology and overcome productiondifficulties. The Government should also not increase land rent to allowbusinesses to focus on their capital and to make investments inequipment and technology.-VNA