Furniture makers demand duty cut to boost exports

Furniture makers have urged the government to pare back exorbitantly high import duty on raw materials to help them increase exports.
President of Bangladesh Furniture Shilpa Malik Samity Selim H Raman said the sector has the potential to earn sizable foreign currency.
He said if the government cuts back on duty on import of raw materials-as high as 54 per cent, production cost will go down, helping the industry to boost exports.
The sector has prospered over the last decade, now capable of meeting more than 90 per cent of domestic demand, insiders said.
Local companies are making a wide variety of products including office decorating furniture, rocking chair, watchman's chair, windsor chair, wingback chair, bunk bed, canopy bed, four-poster bed, murphy bed, platform, billiard table, carom table and chess table.
The local manufacturers have been producing wooden made furniture, bamboo, wicker, metal, plastic, glass and concrete made furniture.
Around 40,000 enterprises employ more than 200,000 skilled and semi-skilled people and contribute Tk 170 billion to the sector, where more than, according to Bangladesh Furniture Shilpa Malik Samity.
The association said at present buyers from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, European Union, India, Hong Kong, Russia, Thailand, the USA and Italy are sourcing Bangladeshi furniture.
Earnings from furniture export amounted to $ 22.11 million in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2014-15), which was $ 42.58 last fiscal.
"We're producing different types of furniture and focusing on quality, which is helping to boost export," managing director of Nadia Furniture Ltd A Karim Mojumder told the FE.
He said his company has been exporting to countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, but higher import duty on raw materials is pushing up costs of furniture making.  
Sector insiders said domestic source can meet only 20 per cent demand of raw materials while the rest are imported.
Mr Mojumder said Bangladeshi wooden furniture is gaining popularity in the international market.
He said labour cost is cheaper than that of many other countries, offering a big opportunity for local players to be competitive in the world market.
He said "We have been exporting wooden furniture bamboo and wicker items including office decoration, dining room furniture, kitchen room furniture, garden furniture, living room furniture and home furnishing."
Otobi, Akhtar Furnishers, Hatil Furniture, Brothers, Partex, Navana, Nadia Furniture and Unique Furnitures Ltd are dominating the sector.
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