Vietnam’s plywood export to recover in Q2: association

Vietnam’s plywood export hit the bottom at the end of Q3/2022 and is expected to recover in Q2 this year, according to the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Vifores).

Vietnam’s export of plywood inched down 0.3% in value to $959.1 million and 3% in volume to 2.5 million cubic meters in the first 11 months of 2022, according to customs data.

Vifores noted the Russia-Ukraine conflict negatively hit the global plywood market. Orders from the U.S. and South Korea, two major markets of Vietnam, started falling in July 2022 and even ended for some businesses in Q3/2022, partly due to high inflation and low consumption.

Besides, in late Q3/2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) extended the duty evasion investigation into Vietnamese plywood, the fourth time so far, affecting Vietnam’s export of the products.

Vifores expected the U.S. plywood market would start recovering in April-July, initially for plywood for construction and then birch and poplar plywood for kitchen furniture. After that, plywood for sofa making would rebound, partly thanks to production shifting to Vietnam.

The recovery of the South Korean market is not clear, the association noted.

The Malaysian market has strong potential as local producers there face problems of human resources and rising production costs, according to Vifores.

It noted that the EU market with an annual consumption of 3.5 million cubic meters is a key one for recovery, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to a shortage of two million cubic meters of plywood from Russia.

According to the latest International Trade Center (ITC) data, Vietnam became a top-five exporter of plywood in 2019 with a revenue of more than $676 million. The country’s figure has been steadily increasing from $383.66 million in 2017 to $714.47 million in 2020 and $1.11 billion in 2021.

In 2021, leading importers of Vietnamese plywood were the U.S. with $508.98 million, South Korea with $264.38 million, Malaysia with $107.53 million, and Japan with $83.15 million.