Furniture now ranks 6th among the country’s key exporting items, following crude oil, garment and textiles, footwear, seafood and rice.

Vietnamese wood-based products have gained a firm foothold in 120 countries and territories, accounting for 0.8 percent of market share.  Vietnam’s the three key markets are the US, the European Union and Japan.

Made-in-Vietnam furniture has also been exported to new markets such as

Canada and a number of East European countries.

The Vietnam Woodwork and Forestry Products Association forecasts that woodwork exports will increase rapidly by between 10-40 percent until 2010, particularly in major markets.

However, the sector will have to talk immediate steps to gradually caused by the lack of materials and skilled workers, to reach its target of US$5 billion by the end of the decade.