At the meeting of the wood industry in the third quarter of 2022 held this afternoon, July 28, Mr. Do Xuan Lap, Chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association said that inflation has increased in the UK, US and Europe. are having a negative impact on Vietnam's wood exports.
"In May, consumer prices in the US increased by 8.6% from a year earlier, in the UK by 9.1%, the EU by 8.6%. Goods became expensive. Consumer demand for products This is having a direct negative impact on the production and business activities of enterprises in the wood industry today," said Mr. Lap.
A quick survey of 52 enterprises (enterprises) that the Timber Associations in collaboration with Forest Trends have conducted in the past two weeks shows that out of 45 enterprises currently exporting to the US, 33 enterprises said their current revenue has decreased by nearly 40% compared to the first months of the year. Only 10 enterprises reported an increase in revenue compared to the previous months, but the increase was very small (11%).
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| High inflation in the US and EU is negatively affecting Vietnam's wood exports. Photo: GV |
Similar to the EU market, out of 38 enterprises participating in this market, 24 enterprises said that their revenue is now down by over 41% compared to the previous months. Only 4 enterprises reported an increase in revenue, at 14%.
In the UK market, out of 25 enterprises participating in this market, 17 enterprises reported a decrease in revenue, at over 41%. About 71% of businesses said that the order situation from now until the end of the year will continue to decrease.
With the current market situation, 44% of businesses think that their revenue will decrease by about 44% in the whole year of 2022.
“These numbers give us a very bleak market picture. Enterprises are currently facing many difficulties in terms of capital, labor costs and input materials. Many enterprises are also taking mitigation measures, including reducing production scale, converting products, changing markets and a number of other measures," said Mr. Lap.
According to a report by the General Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the export value of wood and forest products in July was estimated at 1.41 billion USD, down 5.5% compared to June and down 1.6% over the same period last year. year 2021.
However, in the first 7 months of the year, the export value of wood and forest products was estimated at 10.42 billion USD, up 1.3% over the same period in 2021.
The General Department of Forestry assessed that export growth in the first 7 months of the year was low compared to the same period in 2021 and previous years.
The main reason is due to the high price of production materials and products (the cost of production materials and transportation increased sharply); countries tighten credit policies because inflation tends to increase, leading to a sharp decrease in consumer demand.
The export market to the US decreased by 4.9% due to the tightening of credit policy to control inflation, leading to a decrease in consumer demand. Exports to Japan, Korea, and China grew strongly, over 13%, due to increased exports of wood chips and pellets.
Sharing opinions at the conference, many businesses feared that this decrease in revenue would not only take place in July but could also last into August and the following months with the situation sometimes even worse. Enterprises want banks to create favorable conditions for debt freezing, debt rescheduling, interest rate reduction, etc. to help businesses overcome this difficulty.
