The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has petitionedthe State to increase export tariffs on woodchips from 0 percent to 5-10percent, in a move to limit woodchip exports.

MARD alsoproposed instituting a 10 percent value-added tax, as well as a 25percent corporate tax for enterprises involving in woodchip production.

Undera scheme on managing domestic woodchip production in the period from2014-20, as approved by the ministry, wood processing firms were allowedto use a maximum of 70 percent of wood material harvested fromplantation forests to produce woodchips from now through the end of2015. However, the ratio would then be reduced to 40 percent in the fivefollowing years.

The scheme also prioritised the development ofhigh value-added products, such as indoor and outdoor furniture, woodenhandicrafts and expansion of new export outlets, such as Russia and theMiddle East, while maintaining traditional markets such as the US, theEU, Japan and China.

According to Huynh Van Hanh, Vice Chairmanof the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City, thevalue of Vietnam's wood exports would reach an estimated 6.5 billionUSD by the end of 2014, up 15 percent year-on-year.-VNA