HANOI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam gained over 2.6 billion U.S. dollars from exporting wood and wood-based products in the first four months of this year, up 9 percent on-year, the Wood & Forest Products Association of Vietnam said on Monday.

Vietnam is most likely to make wood and woodwork export turnovers of some 9 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up from over 7.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. Its major export markets include the United States, Japan, China and the European Union.

The global demand for wooden furniture has increased in recent years, and the domestic demand for such kind of product is tending to climb up due to rapid urbanization and potential recovery of the local real estate market, according to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The global wood and woodwork market is valued at over 120 billion U.S. dollars a year.

Vietnam is home to nearly 4,000 wood processing enterprises, mainly in the southern region, of which some 1,500 specialize in making products for export, said the association.