ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Furniture Council on Sunday urged local furniture manufacturers to excel at Chinese furniture with unique and better designing, besides superb finishing of international standards to capture regional and global markets for enhancing exports.
Talking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by Barrister Sadia Aalam Butt, Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Furniture Council Mian Muhammad Kashif Ashfaq said local exporters were suffering manifold problems while local manufacturers are facing challenges due to heavy imports of furniture.
Chinese furniture has also hit the local industry by 70 percent and the sales of locally manufactured household furniture have gone down by over 60 percent, he said, adding that pressures on the domestic industry has immensely increased as other countries like Thailand and Korea have started exporting extensively to Pakistan.
He said at the same time, the high cost of the furniture business has threatened the sector as a whole and the prices of all raw materials which include chipboard, timber, foam, polish chemical materials, colour paints and hardware have increased. Timber production on the other hand has gone down drastically because of unchecked deforestation.
Mian Kashif said Pakistan’s major buyers of wooden furniture are the UK, the USA, Sri Lanka and Gulf countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. The United States buys mostly bedroom furniture. UK and the Gulf countries import kitchen furniture and office furniture. For example, the British retail chain Harrods sells some Pakistani furniture of Chenone and others at its outlets. Chiniot in Pakistan is well known throughout the world for its beautiful wood carvings and brass inlays. Its furniture is better in quality than that of other areas of the country. Most of the furniture produced is simple but heavy in weight and is sold locally rather than exported he added.
Leader of the delegation Barrister Ms Sadia Aalam Butt said that the demand for Pakistani furniture has been rising constantly. It has bright prospects to export more than $1 billion worth of furniture annually in the international furniture market.
She said to materialise this dream, the furniture industry in Pakistan must vigorously transform from cottage or small scale industry to innovative industry through training, upgrading supplies and imports, establishing a wood work institute and testing laboratories of international standards. She said Japan is an important market to tap and hectic since endeavours must be made by promoting furniture exports with more regular participation in international shows. All this can happen if there is government will and a vision amongst furniture traders, she concluded.
Talking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by Barrister Sadia Aalam Butt, Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Furniture Council Mian Muhammad Kashif Ashfaq said local exporters were suffering manifold problems while local manufacturers are facing challenges due to heavy imports of furniture.
Chinese furniture has also hit the local industry by 70 percent and the sales of locally manufactured household furniture have gone down by over 60 percent, he said, adding that pressures on the domestic industry has immensely increased as other countries like Thailand and Korea have started exporting extensively to Pakistan.
He said at the same time, the high cost of the furniture business has threatened the sector as a whole and the prices of all raw materials which include chipboard, timber, foam, polish chemical materials, colour paints and hardware have increased. Timber production on the other hand has gone down drastically because of unchecked deforestation.
Mian Kashif said Pakistan’s major buyers of wooden furniture are the UK, the USA, Sri Lanka and Gulf countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. The United States buys mostly bedroom furniture. UK and the Gulf countries import kitchen furniture and office furniture. For example, the British retail chain Harrods sells some Pakistani furniture of Chenone and others at its outlets. Chiniot in Pakistan is well known throughout the world for its beautiful wood carvings and brass inlays. Its furniture is better in quality than that of other areas of the country. Most of the furniture produced is simple but heavy in weight and is sold locally rather than exported he added.
Leader of the delegation Barrister Ms Sadia Aalam Butt said that the demand for Pakistani furniture has been rising constantly. It has bright prospects to export more than $1 billion worth of furniture annually in the international furniture market.
She said to materialise this dream, the furniture industry in Pakistan must vigorously transform from cottage or small scale industry to innovative industry through training, upgrading supplies and imports, establishing a wood work institute and testing laboratories of international standards. She said Japan is an important market to tap and hectic since endeavours must be made by promoting furniture exports with more regular participation in international shows. All this can happen if there is government will and a vision amongst furniture traders, she concluded.
