HANOI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported more than 8.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of wood and wood products in the first eight months of this year, down 25.4 percent year-on-year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Tuesday.
In August alone, the country raked in over 1.1 billion dollars from exporting wood and wood products, posting a 19.2-percent year-on-year decline.
Wooden furniture and handicraft businesses are getting more export orders after a slowdown, local newspaper Vietnam News reported.
Inflation and recession in many countries, especially some of Vietnam's key export markets, have seen customers tighten spending on furniture, the newspaper cited Tran Ngoc Liem, director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's HCM City branch.
Tran Quoc Manh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association, said exports began to recover in the second quarter of the year, with many enterprises being able to exceed 50 percent of their factory's capacity.
Hopefully by the end of this year or early 2024 at the latest, exports will fully recover, he said.
With increasingly demanding requirements from customers, firms need to improve their production capacity and make products that are environment-friendly and have aesthetic designs, he said.
