Exports to key markets in the US, Japan, mainland China and the Republic of Korea (RoK), which together accounted for 63.7 percent of wood products export value, increased significantly, with exports to the RoK nearly tripling. 

The US remained the leading market for Vietnamese wood products, buying up US$118 million worth, followed by the EU (US$90.2 million), Japan (US$49.1 million) and China (US$32 million). 

Exports of wood products could rise by another 30 percent and exceed US$4 billion this year thanks to rising global demand, said Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association vice chairman Nguyen Ton Quyen. 

However, the association was advising exporters to increase their focus on the domestic market to lower the risk of rising raw material prices. 

Vietnam ranked fourth among Southeast Asian wood products exporters, but only 20 percent of wood products consumed in the country were produced by domestic enterprises, with the remaining 80 percent imported from mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan, according to the HCM City Handicraft and Wood Products Association. 

"Vietnamese enterprises should be more familiar with domestic consumer tastes," said association chairman Nguyen Chien Thang. "If there were a focus on high- to average-income segments, they could definitely dominate the domestic market, instead of wrestling over foreign markets."