PFC to participate in Texworld USA exhibition in September

Aug 02, 2019: A twenty-five members delegation of Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) would participate in Texworld USA International Exhibition in September to explore new markets and strengthen existing bilateral trade ties with the American business community.

PFC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq disclosed this while chairing a meeting of furniture exporters held here at PFC headquarter on Friday,"says a press release issued here on Friday.

He said Pakistani furniture exporters would avail the opportunity to study the latest designing of products and modern technologies in their fields to improve their businesses to compete in the global markets.

He said that such business-oriented tours could play a pivotal role for Pakistani furniture manufacturers in achieving furniture export target of more than one billion dollars annually in the international furniture markets.

Chairman of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Mian Kashif Ashfaq said that Pakistan’s major buyers of wooden furniture were Britain, USA, Sri Lanka and Gulf countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.

He said that the United States mostly purchases bedroom furniture while the UK and the Gulf countries import kitchen and office furniture.

The PFC chief mentioned that Japan had great scope for Pakistani furniture because they liked Pakistani traditional hand-carved furniture designs with classic finishing and similar designs could be replicated in the USA market; therefore, efforts must be made to promote furniture exports by more regular participation in international shows. All this could happen with the support of the government and a vision among furniture traders.

Terming Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden visit to USA was a big success for the country especially for business community, as he expected that this would not only help settling many financial difficulties but also projecting good image of Pakistan in abroad.

He said that Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was committed to facilitating foreign investors and efforts were already under way to make incremental improvement in the ease of doing business in the country.

He further said the fruitful results of Imran Khan’s visit to US started surfacing as many US companies were showing keen interest to explore Pakistan for investment and joint ventures.

Mian Kashif expressed hope that furniture sector would also exploit this opportunity to expand its export volume which would help the country to reduce trade deficit.

“Only the US furniture demand at the manufacturers’ level is forecast to reach $59 billion in 2021,” adding he said, the opportunity was huge, but the sector needed a large number of skilled workers to meet rising demand.

He said that the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) should support exporters of furniture at international furniture exhibitions besides this Pakistani foreign missions should also explore new avenues and hold fairs in their respective countries.

APP