🎯 The business: kiln-dried American hardwood lumber (white oak, red oak, ash, tulipwood and walnut) sold by the container to furniture, flooring and cabinet factories in Vietnam, one of the world’s largest furniture exporters. Start as an agent who matches factories with U.S. mills for a commission; buy and sell on your own account once you know the grades and the buyers.
At a glance
| Money to start | ≈ $5,300 to $7,800 as an agent; add about $25,000 of working capital to trade a container yourself |
| Time to the first container | About 5 to 7 months |
| Hours a week in year one | 15 to 25, with calls in Vietnam’s morning (your evening) |
| Skills that matter most | Knowing hardwood grades, careful contracts, patience with long sales cycles |
| A realistic income line | Four containers a month at about $1,500 margin each is $6,000 a month before overhead |
Is this for you?
It suits someone who already knows wood: a former mill or yard worker, a lumber salesperson, a furniture maker. You must be able to look at a bundle and know whether it matches the grade on the invoice, because the factory will check every board when it arrives.
It is a poor fit if you want high margins. Lumber is a commodity, and big exporters ship hundreds of containers a month. A small exporter wins on service: the right widths and lengths, honest grading, fast answers and fair handling of claims.
Who pays, and what
Furniture, flooring, door and cabinet factories in the industrial provinces around Ho Chi Minh City (Binh Duong and Dong Nai) and in Binh Dinh around Quy Nhon, plus Vietnamese timber traders who resell to smaller workshops. Many of these factories make furniture for U.S., Japanese and European stores, and some buyers ask for American species by name.
They buy by the thousand board feet (MBF), priced delivered to a Vietnamese port (CFR or CIF), with grade, thickness, moisture content and length and width ranges written into the contract. A 40-foot container typically holds roughly 18,000 to 22,000 board feet of 1-inch (4/4) lumber.
What it takes to start
| LLC, EIN, business bank account | $500 |
| A trip to Vietnam to visit factories (flights, hotel, interpreter) | $3,000 to $5,000 |
| Sample boards and shipping them | $500 |
| An independent lumber inspector for your first loads | $500 to $1,000 |
| Website, email, spec sheets, a messaging number | $300 |
| Credit insurance or bank fees on the first deal | $500 |
| All-in | ≈ $5,300 to $7,800 |
That is the agent model. To buy a container yourself, you also need the cost of the lumber until the buyer pays, about $25,000 a container at this page’s example price, unless the buyer opens a letter of credit that your bank will lend against.
Start to finish: the steps
1. Pick two or three species and grades. White oak, red oak, ash and tulipwood (yellow poplar) in FAS and No. 1 Common are the usual starting points. Learn the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) grading rules for each one before you quote anything.
2. Line up three mills or concentration yards. Look for ones that already export kiln-dried lumber, will load containers at their yard, and will either pay you a commission or sell to you at a fixed price for a month at a time.
3. Set up the business side. Form an LLC, open a bank account that handles letters of credit, and choose a freight forwarder that ships lumber to Ho Chi Minh City every week. The forwarder will arrange the phytosanitary certificate and file the export record.
4. Build a spec sheet. One page per species: grade, thickness, kiln-dried moisture range, average width, length mix, and a delivered price per MBF to Ho Chi Minh City. Have it translated into Vietnamese.
5. Go and meet factories. Vietnam’s furniture fairs in Ho Chi Minh City each spring put hundreds of factories in one place. Visit their plants, see what they cut, and leave sample boards.
6. Quote the first container. Price it delivered to the buyer’s port, in dollars, valid for a short time. Write the grade rules, the tolerance on moisture and length, and how claims are settled (for example, re-inspection by an NHLA inspector) into the contract.
7. Agree on safe payment. A letter of credit at sight, or a deposit with the balance paid against a copy of the bill of lading. Do not release original documents until you are paid.
8. Load and document it. Get the mill’s tally sheet, photos of every bundle going in, the phytosanitary certificate, and the origin documents your buyer needs for Vietnamese customs. The container takes about four to six weeks to arrive.
9. Follow up when it is cut. Call the factory after the first bundles go through its saws. Settle any small claim fast and fairly; that is what earns the second order.
10. Then grow: monthly contracts with three or four factories, more species, and buying on your own account once your margin and your buyers are proven.
Pricing an order
| 20 MBF of 4/4 No. 1 Common red oak at $1,150 per MBF at the mill (example) | $23,000 |
| Truck to the port | $1,500 |
| Ocean freight, 40-foot container to Ho Chi Minh City | $3,000 |
| Phytosanitary certificate, forwarder, insurance, bank fees | $1,000 |
| Your cost delivered (CFR) | $28,500 |
| Sold at $1,500 per MBF delivered | $30,000 |
| Your margin | $1,500 (5 percent) |
All prices here are examples to show the method. Lumber prices move every week and freight rates swing with the market, so get fresh mill and freight quotes for every offer. More on building a delivered price in Export pricing, and on what CFR and CIF commit you to in Incoterms.
The math
Trading on your own account, the example container costs you $28,500 delivered and sells for $30,000, so you keep $1,500. Four containers a month is $6,000. Take off about $800 a month for travel, phone, software and insurance, and about $5,200 is left before tax.
As an agent, a commission of, for example, 3 percent of a $30,000 sale is $900 a container, with no money tied up in lumber. Six containers a month is $5,400. Many people start this way and move to trading once a factory orders every month.
The figure that sinks traders is the claim. If a factory finds 10 percent of a container below grade and you agree to a 10 percent refund, that is $3,000, which wipes out two containers of margin. Honest grading at the mill is the whole game.
Getting buyers to say yes
Factories buy from people who deliver what the contract says. What gets a second order: lumber that cuts the way the grade promises, correct moisture, a tidy tally sheet, fast replies in their time zone, and a fair answer to a claim. A Vietnamese-speaking partner or staff member helps a great deal.
Where to find them: the furniture fairs in Ho Chi Minh City, the trade association lists of wood processors, the American Hardwood Export Council’s events and buyer lists in Southeast Asia, and the U.S. Commercial Service in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. More in Finding foreign buyers.
Running it week to week
Each week: update your price list with the mills, answer buyer requests the same day, check every container being loaded (tally, photos, moisture readings), and follow every shipment until it is unloaded at the factory. Keep a file for each container with the contract, the tally, the photos, the certificates and the payment record. Watch freight rates and the dollar-to-dong rate; both change what a factory will pay.
Rules to check
U.S. side: hardwood lumber is generally EAR99 and needs no export license to Vietnam, but screen every buyer against the U.S. restricted-party lists. File the Electronic Export Information (EEI) in AESDirect for each shipment over $2,500 per Schedule B number; your forwarder usually does this. See Export controls.
Plant health: Vietnam asks for a phytosanitary certificate issued by USDA APHIS. Check APHIS’s export database (PExD) for the current Vietnam entry and whether your lumber needs a treatment statement.
Legality: Vietnam’s Timber Legality Assurance System (Decree 102/2020, amended by Decree 120/2024) makes importers declare where their timber comes from and show it was harvested legally. Ask your buyer exactly which documents its customs declaration needs, and get them from the mill before loading.
Your buyer’s market: many factories sell to the U.S., and new U.S. tariffs on some furniture, cabinets and wood products from late 2025 changed their order books. Ask each factory which markets it ships to.
What goes wrong
A container that grades lower than the contract, and a claim that eats the margin. Lumber with too much moisture that moves or cracks in the factory. Prices that rise at the mill after you quoted a fixed price. Freight rates that jump between the quote and the booking. A buyer who asks for a discount after the lumber has arrived because he knows you cannot bring it back. The exporters who last grade honestly, write tight contracts, and never release documents before payment.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to start a lumber export business?
About $5,300 to $7,800 as an agent who takes a commission, mostly for a trip to Vietnam, samples and setup. To buy and resell a container yourself, add the cost of the lumber, about $25,000 a container at this page’s example price.
Do I need a license to export lumber from the U.S.?
No export license is needed for ordinary hardwood lumber to Vietnam. You need a phytosanitary certificate from USDA APHIS, the EEI filing for shipments over $2,500 per Schedule B number, and restricted-party screening of the buyer.
How many board feet fit in a 40-foot container?
Roughly 18,000 to 22,000 board feet of 1-inch lumber, depending on the species, the lengths and how the bundles are made up. Ask the mill what it usually loads.
Which American hardwoods sell in Vietnam?
White oak, red oak, ash and tulipwood are common in furniture and flooring, with walnut and cherry for higher-end pieces. Each factory has its own mix; ask what it cuts before you quote.
How much can you make exporting lumber?
At this page’s example numbers, about $1,500 margin per container trading on your own, or about $900 commission as an agent. Four containers a month is about $6,000 before overhead. One bad claim can erase that.
Free help
The U.S. Commercial Service in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi can screen and introduce buyers; your local U.S. Export Assistance Center connects you. The American Hardwood Export Council promotes U.S. hardwoods in Asia and runs events there. The NHLA publishes the grading rules and trains inspectors. Your state’s STEP grant may pay part of a trade mission, and SCORE and your Small Business Development Center give free help with the business plan.
Vietnam’s timber legality rules and U.S. tariffs on Vietnamese wood products both changed in 2024 and 2025. Points here were checked in November 2026; confirm the document list with your buyer and the phytosanitary entry in APHIS PExD before each first shipment, and price every offer from fresh mill and freight quotes.