Vietnamese woodwork producers are importing more wood materials from China due to thin domestic supplies, according to a local trade agency on Thursday.

The value of the materials imported via the Mong Cai border gate in northern Quang Ninh province stood at some 200,000 U.S. dollars in January, much higher than that in the previous month, said the Trade Information Center under the Trade Ministry.

Chinese enterprises are offering Vietnamese partners some 20 types of wood materials. A cubic meter of oak timber is priced at 20,070 renminbi (about 2,582 dollars), and that of plywood nearly 23.1 renminbi (nearly 3 dollars).

The value of Chinese wood materials imported via the border gate is expected to rise 10-15 percent in February and March, the center said.

Vietnam, home to 1,200 woodwork producers, has some 1.4 million hectares of forests for production purposes with a capacity of 30. 6 million cubic meters of wood, but most of the volume is slated for production of paper, plywood and fiber, according to the Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Processing Association.

The country exported wood-based products totaling 190 million dollars last month, up 39.7 percent over last January. It shipped abroad, mainly to the European Union, the United States, Japan and China's Taiwan, the products valued at more than 1.9 billion dollars last year.

Source: Xinhua