Hanoi (VNA) - The woodprocessing industry is to become a spearhead economic sector by 2025, posting exportturnover of about 20 billion USD to contribute to socio-economic development andstabilise the livelihoods of people living in forested areas.

Addressing a conference in Hanoi on August 20 to review policies on forestry investmentand those on processing and trading forestry products, Deputy Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said the forestry industry has recorded highgrowth in recent years, especially in export turnover.

The sector aims to improve the quality of forests and promote value and productionchains for forestry products, focusing on investing in protective and special-useforests to protect the environment and ensure long-term biodiversity.

Support will be provided to poor farmers and the vulnerable, helping them accesspolicies on forestry protection and development in combination with livelihoodimprovement.

Apart from promoting exports, it is also necessary to develop the domestic marketwhich is valued at around 3 billion USD and demand keeps rising, Tuan said.

He underlined the need to have mechanisms and policies on non-timber forestry products,stressing that priority should be given to developing medicinal products.

Scientists believe that the environmental value and the value of non-timber forestproducts are about three to four times higher than the value of timber.

According to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VAF), about 50 trillionVND was mobilised for developing the forestry sector in the 2016-2020 period, includingover 8.7 trillion VND from the State budget, over 3 trillion VND in official developmentassistance (ODA) capital, and nearly 27 trillion VND invested by organisations andindividuals.

According to Bui Chinh Nghia, deputy general director of VAF, investment policiesfor the sector have proven effective, as the natural forestry area has been managedand protected well, forest quality has gradually improved, and forest coverage increased to 41.89 percent in 2019 from 40.84percent in 2015 and is expected to hit 42 percent this year.

Many concentrated material areas have been created for the wood processingindustry, reaching over 1.3 million ha.

The value of forestry production increased by an average of 5.73 percentannually in the 2016-2020 period. The export value of wood and wooden productsrose to 11.3 billion USD in 2019 from 7.1 billion USD in 2015, and is estimatedto reach over 12 billion USD this year./.