About 696 million USD worth of timber and wood products were shipped abroad in August, raising the eight-month figure to 5.6 billion USD – up 12.6 percent year on year, according to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNForest).

The US, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea were the main markets of the Vietnamese wood sector during the period.

Timber and wood product exports are hoped to earn 9 billion USD in 2018, up 1 billion USD from last year, giving the sector a good chance to achieve the target a full month early.

VNForest said the biggest success in wood trading is maintaining export growth while curbing the increase of imports.

The sharp fall in wood imports from Laos and Cambodia was thanks to a prohibition of exporting wood from planted forests, along with efforts by the Vietnamese Government and businesses to control wood imports from the two neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, imports from some countries with strong wood industry laws like Brazil, Chile and the US have grown well.

VNForest added that Vietnam will press ahead with diversifying wood import sources in the short term, while in the long term, it will develop timber forests to ensure supply for domestic production.