Chinese furniture manufacturers have underlined the need for further enhancing collaboration with the Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) to promote furniture business between the two countries.

They observed that there were plenty of opportunities to increase furniture export volume to China, as the demand for furniture and wooden products were on the rise in that country.

This opinion was expressed during a meeting between the PFC delegation and Chinese furniture makers on the sidelines of the Canton Fair, 2018, held in China.
In a statement, PFC’s Chief Executive Officer, Kashif Ashfaq, said that foreign furniture producers and investors showed keen interest in Pakistani furniture brands, especially handmade traditional furniture.

He said the fair provided an opportunity to explore new avenues by sharing vision, expertise for formulation of future policies, economic studies, sectoral and project-specific reports, besides promotional efforts.

Ashfaq said the Pakistani delegation had one-on-one, direct interaction with foreign business leaders, researchers and investors from across the world, adding that the tour also provided platform to investors to identify potential organizations to partner with.

The top PFC official said Pakistan’s major buyers of wooden furniture were the United Kingdom, United States, Sri Lanka and Gulf countries, like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.

He said the potential buyers preferred to purchase value-priced and high-quality finished goods for dining and bedroom, leather and fabric upholstery, occasional and youth furniture.

He further added that furniture designs had become more accessible due to social media platforms, and most customers knew what they were looking for since many of them had already been inspired by trendy pieces of furniture after watching them on television, in magazines or during their travels.

(Source: Arab News)