Percentage of national area covered by forest
Vietnam is a country located in Southeast Asia, with an area of 331,690km².
The forest cover in Vietnam represents approximatively 45% of the national territory, with a majority of primary or naturally regenerated forests, but also planted forests. Three categories of forests are found: production forests, protection forests, and special use forests. In terms of ownership, 58,7% of the forest belong to the states while 41,3% is privately owned.
The FAO estimated that the net annual change in forest area in Vietnam between 2010 and 2020 was +0,90% (FAO, 2020). Indeed, Vietnam's forest cover has increased significantly as a result of the government forestry policies and initiatives.
According to the ITTO (2019), Vietnam produced 25,000,000 m³ of logs, 6,000,000 m³ of sawnwood, 1,052,000 m³ of veneer, and 1,050,000 m³ of plywood in 2017. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest exporting countries of timber and timber products.
Vietnam imports a significative volume of timber from many places such as China, US, EU, South America, Africa and South-East Asia. The imported volume in 2021 is 6.3 million m³, valued at 2,158 billion USD.
Turnover of wood and forest products in 2021 reached up to 14,8 billion USD and increasing 19.7% compared to 2020. The main destination markets for the exports of wood products are USA, China, Japan, EU and Korea (Trade Information, Ministry of Trade and Industry, 24/1/2022).
Sources:
EUFLEGT
Timber Trade Portal
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, accessed through Global Forest Watch
In Vietnam, the priorities identified in the framework of the operationalization of the VPA are:
Development and implementation of the VNTLAS
Support to the private sector