HANOI, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam imported 922,000 tons of paper worth 862 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, posting respective year-on-year decreases of 5.8 percent and 5.3 percent, the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association said on Thursday.

Last month alone, the country imported 160,000 tons of paper worth 150 million U.S. dollars, mainly from China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, up 1.9 percent in volume but down 0.3 percent in value against June 2018.

Vietnam spent 1.9 billion U.S. dollars importing nearly 2.1 million tons of paper of various kinds, including waste paper last year, witnessing respective year-on-year rises of 14.2 percent and 6.1 percent.

Vietnam's demand for paper of all kinds is estimated to annually grow 8-10 percent in the near future, the association said, adding that country exported nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars worth of finished paper products and certain paper materials in 2018, mainly to China, the United States and Japan.

Vietnam's paper consumption per capita is around 51 kilograms per annum, compared to the world average of 58 kilograms, the association said, predicting that the domestic demand for paper will continue to annually rise 8-10 percent.

Vietnam's paper industry has gained average annual growth of 10-12 percent, with packaging paper sales increasing 15-17 percent, the association said, noting that the domestic demand for packaging, tissue, writing and printing paper is likely to expand by around 15 percent in 2019.

The country currently has some 500 paper enterprises, mostly small, medium and household businesses.