Vietnam's exports of wood and wood products in the first month of 2014 reached $507 million in value, up 3.8 percent year on year, said a report by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Monday.

Major importers of Vietnamese wood and related products in January included the United States, China, Japan and South Korea, among others, said the report.

During the period, Vietnam spent 157 million in importing wood, posting a dramatic increase of 40.5 percent year on year. Vietnam mainly imported wood from Laos, the United States and China.

Minister of MARD Cao Duc Phat said in the report that in order to further boost exports, Vietnam's wood processing sector needs to adapt itself to meet new demands of Vietnam's wood markets.

Those demands include regulations of the United States' Lacey Act and European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan on source and origin of legal timber, said Phat in the report.

The regulations impose big challenges to Vietnam's exporting companies as well as to Vietnam's sustainable management of forest production, urging the country to increase forest management and forestry production management levels, said Phat.

In 2013, Vietnam earned $5.37 billion from shipping wood and its products to world markets, up 15.2 percent year on year, according to MARD statistics.