HANOI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported wood and wood products worth some 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in January, down 29.8 percent year on year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Tuesday.
The decrease was caused mainly by a shortage of orders, according to Do Xuan Lap, chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association.
Global inflation has had negative impacts on demand and orders in the wood industry in year-end period last year and early this year, local online newspaper VnEconomy cited Lap as saying.
Last year, Vietnam reaped over 16 billion dollars from exporting wood and wood products, exceeding 3.8 percent of the plan, according to the chairman.
The country set the target to earn a record high of 18 billion dollars from exporting wood and wood products this year, with wood pellets and woodchips forecast to enter the 1-billion dollar club.
Nguyen Van Dien, director of the Forestry Production Development Department under the Vietnam Administration of Forestry said that to achieve the goal, Vietnam will strive to boost exports to traditional markets including China, South Korea, Japan, the European Union and the United States as well as pay more attention to other markets like the Middle East and South Americans.
He noted that it is also important to increase online sales through e-commerce sites and social network platforms like TikTok.