Furniture fair to boost production and sales
Furniture fair to boost production and sales
Lao based furniture producers are keen to introduce new products at the annual Furniture Fair in Vientiane next week.
Consumers will encounter numerous products made of wood manufactured by Lao and foreign companies in the country. The fair is being held from May 26 to June 1 at Lao-ITECC in Sisattanak district, Vientiane.
About 35 members of the Lao Furniture Association have confirmed their participation in the event, an association official Mr Bounpheang Pheangsavad told Vientiane Times yesterday.
The exhibition is organised by the Vientiane Industry and Commerce Department in cooperation with the association and Lao-ITECC.
It is expected more than 200 booths will be booked for furniture and handicraft products.
The exhibition will have a contest highlighting excellent furniture products as well as a seminar on export promotion.
Director of Industry and Commerce Department, Mr Berlinh Phetchantharath told Vientiane Times on Wednesday the fair is to promote the country's production and new Lao furniture products to both domestic and foreign markets.
Other purposes are to help prepare celebrations for National Abour Day and International Children's Day on June 1.
Mr Berlinh expected that more buyers and visitors will come to this year's fair because producers have many kinds of new products to show.
The official opening ceremony is 3pm Monday with the fair continuing until June 1 and is open from 10am to 10pm each day.
China is a major market for Lao furniture. Members of the Lao Furniture Association always participate at exhibitions in China and find that Chinese buyers are interested in Lao timber products because they are actually made of quality wood, according to the association official Mr Bounpheang.
Mr Bounpheang just came back from an exhibition in Chongqing, China last Sunday where some association members took their products to exhibit and they sold well.
He said that buyers in China were interested to sign contracts with producers in Laos to supply furniture products to them, but local manufactures could not do that because of insufficient raw materials.
Last year, the association was given a quota for timber to be supplied by the government to make furniture for export, after making a request to the Lao authorities.
It received the approval of a timber quota of 80,366 cubic metres for its 56 members valued at about 64 billion kip (US$8 million).
This volume of wood was 30 percent of the government's total quota last year.
vientiane times
