The Furniture Sector in Pakistan: Export performance and ... - TRTA i

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• Human resources. Even if labour force is abundant, lack of technical capabilities can hinder competitiveness. Public support to vocational training for workers in factories is recommendable, in order to reduce direct training expenses of enterprises, and for managers to allow them to professionally grow with their businesses. • Market information. Access to information on market characteristics (for example trends in distribution, retail success stories, new furniture marketing concepts) and market access (tariff and non-tariff barriers) is often very difficult. It would thus be useful to centralize this information (into Furniture Exporters’ Association level) for regular distribution. • Marketing activities. The furniture industry should focus on marketing activities in key markets (the United States, Japan, the European Union, and the Gulf). A concerted action should include exhibitions; websites; international trade fairs; in-depth market analyses, etc. Special encouragement may be warranted for importers and retailers’ buyer’s groups to visit Pakistani factories or Permanent Exhibition Halls. Marketing efforts in the booming Gulf markets should be intensified. 6.6 The way forward – if we had a million Here is a list of hands-on projects that could improve the conditions for production and trade in the sector. It is a wish list based on meetings with parties who assisted in the preparation of the study. Most of the project proposals are related to some of the conclusions and suggestions in the study. All costs are early-stage estimates inserted as magnitudes for the ease of discussion of followup from the study. The project proposals are independent of each other (unless otherwise indicated) and are listed in no order of priority. The study does not speculate on possible funding for implementation of the projects proposed. Funding could be from the government of Pakistan, a trade promotion organisation, the sector associations and their members, an external donor and in some cases from self-generated funds (selling services). 6.6.1 If we had US$10,000 or 20,000: A small wood seasoning plant A pilot plant for testing, demonstration and sustainable production of kiln-dried sawn timber for the furniture industry. Objective The plant would improve the quality and shorten the production cycle of sawn timber for furniture manufacturing. It would serve as a demonstration plant for potential investors in similar facilities and as a testing plant for the benefit of a number of furniture producers in Pakistan. 100 International Trade Centre
Benefits All timber tends to be air-dried in Pakistan, as kiln-drying (KD) is a rare profession in the country. Air-drying is sufficient to come up with a workable quality for furniture, but at the cost of a long drying time (6-12 months). The process locks up capital for long time and delays production planning cycles and delivery times substantially. Kiln-drying’s main benefit would thus come from improved quality (less crack-related reclamations), savings and shorter wood purchase-processing-delivery cycles. Very few independent contract-kiln operators can be presently found. Modest price increases could also be obtained for KD planks, what would justify kiln-drying upon order as a new entrepreneurship. These would sell drying services to sawn-wood producers or end-users upon need, and would charge a remunerative kiln operation fee per volume of timber and energy costs. Furniture makers would encourage such entrepreneur by placing fixed orders on annual basis to help the start-up of business. Parties Parties to be involved, ownership, responsibilities and location(s) are to be decided in a dialogue between the All Pakistan Furniture Association, local authorities, the sponsor and possibly other parties. Investments The instalment of a few small 5-10 m 3 chambers or a larger 30-60 m 3 chamber depends on the wood consumption volumes and client base. The main part of the investment would come from heat source (optional), ventilation and control equipment from a local manufacturer or abroad. Also, proper chamber door mechanisms and moisture measuring devices are required. The actual chambers can be built with local bricks at a reasonable cost. It should be also studied whether Australian-made solar kilns or combination kilns (solar + mechanised ventilation) could be made available at reasonable cost. These are known to have been installed in small-scale wooden crafts communities across South-East Asia and the Pacific. 6.6.2 If we had US$25,000: A research and information cell in APFEA Aim will be to provide the industry with all required information like updates, global developments, quality standard requirements, market assessment, technology news, data on world furniture trade, the latest on timber situations, etc. APFEA members will be able to approach the R&I Cell with their queries which will be answered after thorough research and investigation by APFEA’s full time Research Officer who will directly be reporting to APFEA’s Executive R&I, Director (an APFEA EC member). All information on furniture trade gathered by APFEA’s research team will be regularly posted on the website, periodically disseminated among APFEA’s members and also reported from time to time in APFEA’s Newsletter. International Trade Centre 101
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The Furniture Sector in Pakistan
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Acknowledgements The report was pre
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Abbreviations AFTA AHEC AKTRIN APFE
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Table of contents Acknowledgements
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Box 3.1 Multilateral discipline of
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Executive summary This study sets t
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the extent possible maintain or imp
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1 Background and objectives 1.1 EC
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2 Furniture sector in Pakistan 2.1
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On the buyer’s side, there are gl
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According to the websites of import
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Global demand for furniture in main
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suppliers, both domestic and other
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Table 2.3 Pakistani furniture expor
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Figure 2.4 Distribution structure f
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freight rates have increased and do
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Price The prices of local machinery
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Indonesia has also announced a ban
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industry itself should support effo
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various counterparts, the supplier
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Box 2.7 UK Timber Trade Federation
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Figure 2.5 Simplified example on ch
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At least 70% of the wood used in ma
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Scope of joint ventures There exist
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• With FAO’s Forest Products an
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The contact information of many of
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Box 2.10 USAID initiative in the fu
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Opportunities Major opportunities m
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pressure on the price. There appear
Page 59 and 60: Pakistan does not export this furni
Page 61 and 62: 3.1.3 Functional scope The function
Page 63 and 64: Current status of efforts to libera
Page 65 and 66: 3.2.2 Information flow-upwards, i.e
Page 67 and 68: Commission (EC/EU) has established
Page 69 and 70: Figure 3.3 Relevant intensity of WT
Page 71 and 72: Box 3.2 Regional Trade Agreements (
Page 73 and 74: Trade Related Aspects of Intellectu
Page 75 and 76: Agreement on the application of san
Page 77 and 78: country or materially retards the e
Page 79 and 80: Relevance of the furniture sector T
Page 81 and 82: 3.4.2 Other countries’ access to
Page 83 and 84: Table 3.2 Top 10 buyers of the Paki
Page 85 and 86: Arabian market. Here again, there i
Page 87 and 88: • Material from China is being us
Page 89 and 90: 4.2 Obstacles and shortcomings - im
Page 91 and 92: Raw material recovery Raw material
Page 93 and 94: • Consistent policy for supportin
Page 95 and 96: A short-term but maybe a costly mea
Page 97 and 98: 5 Export services in Pakistan 5.1 E
Page 99 and 100: 5.1.3 Federation of Pakistan Chambe
Page 101 and 102: • Pakistan International Freight
Page 103 and 104: The lessons learnt here could be re
Page 105 and 106: 6 Conclusion and recommendations 6.
Page 107 and 108: 6.2 Critical success factors • A
Page 109: 6.4 Global value chains 6.4.1 Poten
Page 113 and 114: • Optimise cutting; • Calculati
Page 115 and 116: 6.6.5 If we had US$100,000: A techn
Page 117 and 118: • To modernise such a laboratory,
Page 119 and 120: Annexes Annex A — Sources of info
Page 121 and 122: • Federmobili information on the
Page 123 and 124: • National Home Furnishings Assoc
Page 125 and 126: International Trade Centre 115
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