TEMPO.CO, Semarang - National Furniture producers have agreed to re-brand the national product to increase the selling value of the product in the international market. One of the efforts to do such is to hold international furniture and craft fair on March 10-13, 2016, involving 250 furniture business owners to promote “Furniture Indonesia”.
“This is a new concept. Furniture Indonesia is based on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s nine priority programs that promote economic independency and domestic products,” Andre Sundrio, chairman of the International Furniture and Craft Fair Indonesia during a road show in Semarang, Central Java, on Thursday, January 21, 2016.
According to Andre, the product rebranding is aimed at building foreign market trust in the national furniture, which lags behind other countries. Andre revealed that Indonesia’s furniture sales figure was below Vietnam’s with a figure of above US$2 billion.
The condition was ironic because Indonesian furniture producers had abundant raw materials. In addition, the Indonesian Furniture and Craft Association (Asmindo) tried to keep the pace by setting a target of 4,000 new buyers in foreign markets.
“The sales figure over the next four years will be US$6 billion,” Andre said.
Andre added that the sales target during the international fair would be set at US$1 million, increasing from US$600,000 in 2015. Andre believes that the target will be achieved by the end of the event.
Ery Sasmito, chairman of the Central Java branch of Asmindo said that the competition in the international market this year was hard to project, despite an increase in the furniture sales figure for 2015.
“The export value of Central Java’s furniture in 2015 was around US$700 million,” Ery said.
EDI FAISOL