Malaysia’s furniture exports are expected to rise one percent this year against RM7.79 billion recorded in 2018 on the back of continued demand from customers despite global economic uncertainties, the Primary Industries Ministry said today.

According to its minister Teresa Kok, locally-made furniture still attracts high demand especially from the United States, Japan and Europe.

“As of August 2019, the country’s exports of timber-based furniture jumped RM5.6 billion and this represents an increase of 13.5 percent compared to RM4.9 billion during the same period last year,” she told the media after opening the National Bumiputera Furniture Entrepreneur Symposium in Serdang today.

The increase in exports, Kok (photo) said, indicated that industry players have begun to focus on high value-added products especially furniture rather than primary products such as timber, plywood and others.

Nevertheless, she expressed concern over the low participation of bumiputera entrepreneurs in the country’s timber industry.

Presently, bumiputera entrepreneurs who owned about 370 out of an estimated 3,500 timber factories in Malaysia only contributed about one percent of the country’s exports of timber and timber products, said Kok.

“We need to create a focus group and conduct a Swot (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis and discuss the weaknesses among bumiputera entrepreneurs as well as to identify market opportunities and demand,” she said.

Kok also said if the local furniture industry is capable of producing modern and unique products such as those produced by Sweden's leading furniture retailer Ikea, it could attract young people to join the industry.

- Bernama