Mohammad Badrul Ahsan :
Japan is expected to emerge as the multi billion-export destination for local furniture thanks to better quality of products and competitive prices, industry insiders said.
According to them, local furniture manufacturers are receiving increased number of export orders from the leading furniture importing countries of the world.
Besides, a good number of prospective deals worth multi billion US Dollar are in line of negotiation.
They also said the developer companies of Japan are the main customer of local furniture.
Akhtar Group, one of the leading furniture companies of the country, has recently bagged an export order worth Tk 500 million from Japan which has been seen as an opportunity to explore the market in the pacific nation.
KM Akhtaruzzaman, chairman of Akhtar Group, a pioneer in furniture industry of the country, said they have recently got a furniture order worth nearly Tk 500 million from a Japanese apartment furniture company.
He said they are importing required fixing-machinery from Japan to manufacture furniture.
“We may get a Tk 2.0 billion order within next one year depending on the success of the deal,” he added.
Akhtar, also president of Bangladesh Furniture Exporters Association, said home furniture, made of wood and other materials, will be exported to the Japanese company.
“The company will also provide technical support. An expert of the company will help our carpenters and technicians in manufacturing furniture,” he added.
He said Japan is one of the leading furniture importing countries in the world with its more than $ 7.5 billion import.
“The recent order will help us grab a share of the giant market,” he said.
Dewan Atif Rashid, a furniture market expert, said Bangladesh has the potential to grab the markets in Germany, the US, Japan, Canada and other big importing countries thanks to having its surplus labourers.
“But the labourers should be skilled and we need to mechanise the industry largely,” he said.
He put stress on technical and market research, saying that a comprehensive research academy should be set up for the industry.
He said furniture companies in China, the US and EU are now shutting their doors as the countries are shifting to technology-based industry from labour-intensive ones.
Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India have surpassed Bangladesh much ago through taking export-friendly furniture policy by their governments.
He said Bangladesh has just started to explore furniture export market as the government has declared 15 per cent cash incentives on export. To make our products more competitive, he said, higher import duty on more than 5,000 raw materials should be eased which is now 34 per cent to 140 per cent.
Japan needs high-end wooden products and we have the possibility of taking hold of household furniture import to Japan, he said.
Legacy Furniture, a local company, first started to export furniture from Bangladesh.
Hatil, Akhtar, Legacy, Otobi, Brothers and other some companies now export products to the US, EU, and Middle-East.
Japan is expected to emerge as the multi billion-export destination for local furniture thanks to better quality of products and competitive prices, industry insiders said.
According to them, local furniture manufacturers are receiving increased number of export orders from the leading furniture importing countries of the world.
Besides, a good number of prospective deals worth multi billion US Dollar are in line of negotiation.
They also said the developer companies of Japan are the main customer of local furniture.
Akhtar Group, one of the leading furniture companies of the country, has recently bagged an export order worth Tk 500 million from Japan which has been seen as an opportunity to explore the market in the pacific nation.
KM Akhtaruzzaman, chairman of Akhtar Group, a pioneer in furniture industry of the country, said they have recently got a furniture order worth nearly Tk 500 million from a Japanese apartment furniture company.
He said they are importing required fixing-machinery from Japan to manufacture furniture.
“We may get a Tk 2.0 billion order within next one year depending on the success of the deal,” he added.
Akhtar, also president of Bangladesh Furniture Exporters Association, said home furniture, made of wood and other materials, will be exported to the Japanese company.
“The company will also provide technical support. An expert of the company will help our carpenters and technicians in manufacturing furniture,” he added.
He said Japan is one of the leading furniture importing countries in the world with its more than $ 7.5 billion import.
“The recent order will help us grab a share of the giant market,” he said.
Dewan Atif Rashid, a furniture market expert, said Bangladesh has the potential to grab the markets in Germany, the US, Japan, Canada and other big importing countries thanks to having its surplus labourers.
“But the labourers should be skilled and we need to mechanise the industry largely,” he said.
He put stress on technical and market research, saying that a comprehensive research academy should be set up for the industry.
He said furniture companies in China, the US and EU are now shutting their doors as the countries are shifting to technology-based industry from labour-intensive ones.
Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India have surpassed Bangladesh much ago through taking export-friendly furniture policy by their governments.
He said Bangladesh has just started to explore furniture export market as the government has declared 15 per cent cash incentives on export. To make our products more competitive, he said, higher import duty on more than 5,000 raw materials should be eased which is now 34 per cent to 140 per cent.
Japan needs high-end wooden products and we have the possibility of taking hold of household furniture import to Japan, he said.
Legacy Furniture, a local company, first started to export furniture from Bangladesh.
Hatil, Akhtar, Legacy, Otobi, Brothers and other some companies now export products to the US, EU, and Middle-East.
