Sarawak has the potential to be Malaysia’s furniture exporter, according to the minister of natural resources and environment Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas.
Dato Uggah said his ministry would help the state achieve goal by 2020, adding that furniture manufacturers needed to produce value-added products with local traditional ethnic identity for an international niche market.
Speaking at the opening of the Sarawak Furniture Industry Development Seminar, he urged the state’s furniture manufacturers and related industry players to embrace change and explore the available technologies, expertise, incentives and new materials to enhance design and quality for export.
Although the furniture market had a good future, the country’s furniture industry faced competition from countries like China, Indonesia and Vietnam. The National Timber Industry Policy outlined strategies to tackle such challenges.
“The target for this policy is to reduce the export of premier wood products such as timber, sawn timber and plywood to 40% and at the same time to increase the value-added downstream products such as furniture and building components to 60% by the year 2020,” he said.
During the seminar, the three organisers, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration on furniture design and development, training, technical services and the setting up of a furniture testing laboratory in the state.
