Domestic demand for wood has outstripped reserves in Vietnam which is faced with importing millions of cubic metres of timber between now and 2010.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development says more than 9 million m³ of timber will be needed annually by 2005 – half of it for paper production and 3 million m³ for construction purposes. The remainder will be required for sheet materials production.
The Ministry predicts that Vietnam will consume 16 million m³ of timber annually between 2006 and 2010. And it says wood processing businesses will have to import 100,000m³ of timber in the coming years.
The ministry hopes to grow 1.8 million ha of forest by 2010, and the project aims to produce an average of 18m³ of timber from each hectare of forest per year.
