Panels & Furniture Asia May/June 2020

May / June 2020, Issue 3 | Panels & Furniture Asia IN PERSON | 25
A
few other signs of how well the
company has been performing
– the company has recently
held the grand opening of its brand-new
headquarters south of Aarhus, Denmark
in January this year; its annual turnover
in the Asian region alone was an eightdigit
figure.
Speaking to Per Friis Knudsen, Global
Timber’s Director Asia, he mentioned that
one of the challenges at Global Timber
is “keeping pace with our own growth”.
Founded in 2006, Danish-owned Global
Timber is a prominent name in the
global wood trading industry and is the
largest stockist of hardwood in Northern
Europe. Its large centralised warehouse
in Denmark holds between 4000 to 5000
cubic metres of hardwood belonging
to more than 40 different species from
35 countries and six continents at any time.
When Knudsen joined Global Timber in
2013, the company already found its
niche in Malaysia’s and Indonesia’s wood
flooring industry.
“Back in 2013, Thailand was still a
sleeping market and Vietnam was not
explored. With these markets being where
my strong networks lie, I gradually found
the right people to work with us, turning
the company into a significant player
in those markets. We expanded quickly
from 18 employees in 2013 to about
35 in 2020,” recounted Knudsen.
“Today, our best performing markets in
Asia are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
and Vietnam. We have also since ventured
and established a strong presence in
the furniture, doors, toys and moulding
industries in these markets,” he added.
Global Timber’s successful entrance into
Southeast Asia can be largely attributed
to Knudsen. A qualified furniture maker
armed with expertise in the furniture
manufacturing business, Knudsen
Danish-owned Global Timber is the largest stockist of hardwood in Northern Europe and has a
large warehouse in Denmark (Image credit: Global Timber/ Studio55)
switched tracks to be a hardwood trader
in 2009. A Danish native turned global
citizen, he has lived and worked in the
U.S. and Germany before heading to
Southeast Asia in 1995. After working
in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, he
eventually settled down back in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, with his wife and two
daughters, where they have called home
for the past 13 years.
GREAT SERVICE: ADDING VALUE
TO AN ALREADY EXCELLENT
SUPPLY CHAIN
Global Timber is well-known for its
diverse selection of hardwood. Given that
more than half of its business activities
are global, with international sales
constituting approximately 60 per cent
of its total annual turnover, building an
efficient logistics operation is paramount
to the business and Global Timber has not
only managed to achieve it, but bring it
to the next level.
“We tie the ends of the rope together. We
link the sawmillers, or forest owners with
their export markets and manufacturers
to their source of imported material. A
trading company needs to bring value
to the chain by providing the service
needed to link everything together. It is
not only trying to have the lowest prices
for the best quality available out there and
then hoping we have earned money too,”
explained Knudsen.