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

ITC has already collaborated with all of them in analyzing the global furniture industries and
trade. In addition, some of WTO’s agreements are relevant to the sector, and deserve attention
in the latter parts of this study.
More specifically, the following essential references of ITC can be pointed:
• Project Tropical Timber Products: Development of Further Processing in ITTO
Producer Countries produced a joint ITTO-ITC publication on the same title in 2002.
This is a global (29 tropical countries) assessment of the current state of the further
processed wood products industry and its export trends in 1989-1998.
• Conclusions: The study assesses the 29 ITTO producer countries in terms of their
participation in the international trade of value-added wood products, their
competitiveness in the marketplace and the future opportunities in major markets. It
explains how the countries could find their competitive advantages and pull out the
suitable industrial manufacturing strategies that match their opportunities. The broad
product range covered (furniture, windows, doors, flooring, other joinery and
mouldings), contributes to the widening of the knowledge of further processing of
tropical wood both in the supplier countries and consumer countries.
• In 2005, the International Wooden Furniture Markets study report was published,
again as a joint venture between ITTO and ITC. This was a sequel to the 1990
publication Wooden Household Furniture: A Study of Major Markets.
• Conclusions: The report provides detailed market information on the world’s eight
leading furniture markets: the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom,
France, Canada, China and Belgium in addition to the Netherlands and Luxembourg and
the major furniture markets of Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Egypt.
• This report also outlines a strategy for developing the wooden furniture sector in tropical
countries. It predicts that the overall balance of furniture-making will move in favour of
the southern hemisphere and China, where a green ‘wall of wood’ is maturing in the
plantation forests. Remaining natural forests will continue to provide unique raw
materials for the finer furniture industry. In order to make full use of the opportunity
created by the coming availability of the plantation resources and the high-value niche
markets for natural hardwoods, the report suggests what developing countries should do
to overcome hurdles such as the changing economics of logistics, low productivity and
efficiency, inadequate quality control and management systems, and the often low level
of skills.
• The value-added processing of wooden furniture in tropical countries will be developed
step-by-step based on local conditions. Manufacturers should move from standardised,
simple products towards originally designed products with higher value, and ultimately
to branded products. It is hoped that this process can be accelerated through concerted
local efforts and international partnerships.
• With ILO, the ITC collaborated on project development for modernisation of Indonesia’s
traditional furniture cluster, and the rubber wood development project. The rubber
wood’s prominent role as a new furniture material was strengthened after the report was
distributed among about ten leading rubber wood growing countries of the world.
Malaysia, however, was pointed out to have an advantage over the others due to
consistent support towards rubber wood processing (see later on their success factors).
38 International Trade Centre