Wood chip exports from Australia fell in 2011 to their lowest level in eleven years and Vietnam took over as world’s largest chip exporter, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. Vietnam exported 5.4 million tons, triple that in 2007. There has been a steady increase in demand for hardwood chips in China.Wood chip trade flows in the Pacific Rim have changed substantially the past five years. Vietnam, Chile, Thailand and Uruguay have all been increasing their shipments of chips, while Australia and South Africa have been losing their market share as fiber suppliers to the pulp mills in Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea.Australia has been the largest wood chip supplier in the world for almost 20 years, but in 2011 Vietnam overtook this role with shipments accounting for about 20% of globally traded chips. Exports of Eucalyptus and Acacia wood chips from Vietnam have increased at a phenomenal pace the past ten years. In 2001, the country exported only 400,000 tons of wood chips; in 2011, a new record of 5.4 million tons was reached.The biggest boost to the establishment of fast-growing hardwood plantations and chipping facilities in Vietnam has been the expanding pulp industry in neighboring China.