The country’s furniture exports have quadrupled over the past four years.

The businessmen in the sector opine that import duty cut on raw materials will play a bigger role in increasing furniture exports in future. The industry at present enjoys annual growth of 18-20 percent.

China is planning to gradually move away from this labour-intensive industry. Local entrepreneurs therefore claim that the export market will grow faster with the help of the government policy.

On the other hand, the demand for local brand furniture is also increasing in the local market. Business insiders also said that like other export industries, the sector should be given special tariffs on raw material imports by ensuring proper supervision.

Furniture export figures for the last few years, along with the local market, suggest new possibilities. In recent times, large-scale factories are also being set up using modern and automated methods.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the furniture sector received export earnings of US$ 78.67 million in FY 2018–19. The earnings were US$ 63.18 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.  According to international market research firm Grand View Research, the global furniture market currently stands at US$ 560 billion. The target for furniture exports this year is 100 million.

Selim H Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Furniture Exporters Association, told Bangladesh Post, “Low-cost labour lowers the production cost creating a huge opportunity for our furniture industry. With the rising demand, if we can engage skilled people in this sector, we can offer furniture with competitive prices and this will increase our export earnings. We have been organising furniture fairs over the last four years to attract foreign buyers. Our government is giving 15 percent cash incentive to furniture export. That’s why, the exports have increased,” he said.

The industry has achieved significant growth with more than 40 companies exporting furniture to 48 countries including the Middle East, where Bangladesh exports the bulk of its furniture. Moreover, there is an increasing demand for hand-carved wooden furniture in the US and UAE.

Economist Dr. Khandaker Golam Moazzem suggested increasing the government patronage to expand the export market of the furniture industry to the United States and European countries.

At present approximately 85,000 enterprises and nearly two lakh skilled and semi-skilled people are engaged in this sector.

On an average, 60 percent of raw materials for the furniture sector is imported from different countries. Of these, timber, wood coating materials, hardware and accessories, and world-class fabrics etc, are the major imported items.