Furniture Industry of Bangladesh

Outlines of Furniture Industry

Traditionally furniture industry in Bangladesh developed as cottage based industry. It is in 90s when
the furniture industry in Bangladesh has transited from cottage based industry to mechanized mass
production oriented industries. Following that the furniture businesses began to grow accommodating
modern machineries innovative designs and use of diverse materials. Furniture industry of
Bangladesh is shifting its focuses from dependency on tea! for raw materials to processed wood .
The main varieties of products are wood processed wood " #edium $ensity Fibre board %#$F&
laminated board particleboard rattan'bamboo and wrought iron furniture. For a more personal
domain as ones home the preferred raw materials still remains solid wood but combination of solid
wood with other materials li!e cane rattan laminated boards plywood and #$F are becoming very
popular. But for offices furniture designs are usually focused on the more contemporary style and the
preferred use of materials include plastic #$F laminated boards and wrought irons . (round )0*
production of furniture sector of Bangladesh is home furniture and +0* is office furniture .
,ne of the !ey strengths of the local furniture industry is diversity in product portfolio . (ccording to
-.I/ %-entre for Industrial .tudies& Bangladesh has a strong potential in lin!ing home d0cor craft
items with the furniture industry. The e1port of furniture products from Bangladesh started from 2993.
It is estimated that by 4023 Bangladesh has e1port potential of crafts furniture accessories worth of
5.$ 20 million along with furniture worth 5.$ 60 million. The potential can be materialized through
e1ploiting low labour cost which is a vital factor in becoming competitive in the world mar!et. In wood
furniture manufacturing labour accounts for up to 60* of the total costs. In Bangladesh labour costs
account for 40* of the production. 7ere the hourly wage rate in furniture is between 8 0.09: 0.60
less than in -hina %80.30: 0.)3& which is the largest furniture e1porting country .
(t present two relevant associations i.e. Bangladesh Furniture ;1port (ssociation and Bangladesh
Furniture Industries ,wners (ssociation %BFI,(& are actively wor!ing on materializing the potential of
this sector. Bangladesh Furniture ;1port (ssociation has 29 members.
<rofiles of Furniture Industry
=overnment of Bangladesh has declared the furniture industry as a >Thrust .ector >. The sectors
contribution to =$< %gross domestic product& is 0.49 percent on average while the industry is
comprised of around 62390 enterprises and employs nearly two la!h s!illed and semi:s!illed people .
(ccording the officials of Bangladesh Furniture Industries ,wners (ssociation %BFI,(&There are
4?000 furniture factories in Bangladesh %including all .#;s& among them 2934 companies are
registered member of furniture owners association. 7owever according to the baseline survey of
furniture industry in Bangladesh by $r. (li @esar Ahan %4022& there are a total of 992+ wooden and
494? non wooden furniture manufacturers in Bangladesh employing around 229?20 wor!ers. (lso
there are around )6949 carpentry households employing another 2364?3 wor!ers. (dding to this
there are 240000 craftsmen producing soft furniture and 400000 suppliers supplying raw and semi:
processed materials. ,ut of this huge employment almost 200000 wor!ers are women . (mong the
employees wor!ing in furniture sectors 40* are wor!ing in large industries and ?0* are wor!ing in
.#;s . There are a number of furniture clusters in $ha!a which are located at Badda .utrapur #irpur
area of $ha!a. ( number of large companies have their factory in .avar and =azipur area. @umber of
large companies is few compare to the total number of furniture industry in Bangladesh. There are 23
large Furniture companies are doing their business in the country which includes ,tobi @avana 7atil
(!htar <arte1 Brothers etc .
Table 2B (verage sales and profit among different classes of furniture manufacturer
In both local and
international mar!et the
growth of Bangladesh
furniture mar!et is evident.
The booming real estate
sector in Bangladesh and
the rising demand of
furniture product in world
mar!et lead the e1pansion
of furniture sectors in
Bangladesh. In fact the demand is so elevated that the demand supply gap is evident in Bangladesh.
Chile the industry is growing at a rate of 9.33* the demand for furniture is increasing by 40*. /ocal
production for furniture of 5.$ 93? million along with 5.$ 29.?6 million imports. Bangladesh earned
829.49 million from e1ports of wooden furniture in fiscal 4009:20 . /ocal manufacturers e1port to the
5. -anada (ustralia 5A #iddle ;ast =ulf countries and other (sian countries li!e India Dapan
Taiwan .ingapore Thailand and Eietnam .
Firm size Numbers of
Enterprise
Average Annual
Sales (BDT)
Gross Profit
(%)
Net Profit
(%)
i!ro "#$%& &#'""#()) *&+% $+'"
Small &#%"% ,#&&'#--- *,+"( &*+(&
S * *"% '#,"&#(*$ *$+%" &(+%"
S & () &$#-,)#))) -*+&) &,+&
.arge -, &)(#&))#))) -,+') &,+'
(n analysis of ;<B data since FF4009:400) indicating 3+.33* decrease in the e1port of soft furniture
over a period of last four years and this decrease is due to the lac! of design and technology research
lac! of initiatives to promote this industry and !eep abreast with other parts of the world .
@onetheless according to Bangladesh Furniture Industries ,wners (ssociation %BFI,(& real e1port is
much higher than %40* higher& than the official figure.
(bout 90* of raw materials of furniture sector are imported from different countries. (round 93* of
wood comes through import. #ost of the tic gamar and hard wood come from (fricaG o!e wood and
barmatic wood come from #yanmar. (round 200* of Cood coating and loc! 90* of ply board 40*
of particle board 30* of adhesive is imported .
Table 4B Trend of e1port and import in furniture sector %soft furniture& of Bangladesh %5nitB 5.8
million&
F/ *))%0*))" *))"0*))' *))'0*))$ *))$0*)&)
1mport
E2port
'+&% ,+($ (+(( -+"$
Source: ;1port data has been compiled fromhttpB''bfide1po.com'furnitureHassociation.php %accessed
on 23 #ay 4024&
(ccording to Bangladesh Furniture Industries ,wners (ssociation %BFI,(& one of the difficulties that
the association %and government& currently faces is that ma1imum companies do not declare their real
amount of sellG and that is why the figure of real trade volume is not available to the association or
government for effective policy formulation. In addition to such problem industries of this sector are
also facing shortage of land. In the past Furniture industry association demanded to have enough
land so that an industrial cluster can be established where at least fifty companies can be
accommodated. Though specific land was allocated in Aachpur area of @arayangonI district the
amount of land was Juiet few %around 40 acre& compare to the (ssociations original demand. In the
end land was not given to furniture association. 7owever a new location has been identified near
Faridpur area where amount of land is much higher than land area of Aachpur area.
Furniture associations of Bangladesh participated in several fairs in Dapan. Kecent fair in Dapan too!
place 400?G but the outcome of that fair is not as e1pected. ,ne of the main reasons is the wea!ness
of design of furniture products manufactured in Bangladesh. Therefore this area needs much
consideration for positive intervention. (t the same time more mar!eting development in outside
Bangladesh is necessary .
(t present there are no rules and regulation addressing standard of products from furniture sector is
available. 7ence for effective e1port promotion of furniture product it is necessary to maintain
certain standard. In this regard Aatalyst a foreign donor agency is wor!ing on the development of
furniture sector of Bangladesh. #oreover the agency is also giving support to the sector in terms of
mar!et e1ploration and development. But their assistance is very short term and has no direct
connection with the association .
Furniture industry is facing face shortage of wood supply from domestic forest. This is one of the great
threats to the industry. To confront the constraint initiatives have been ta!en both from government
and from some private companies. In addition to that Furniture (ssociations regularly organize
programs to encourage people for tree plantation. The association also demanded to the government
to lease certain amount land for tree plantation. (nother severe problem which the industry is facing
is shortage of electric supply which forced factories to maintain generator. (s the cost of fuel of
generator is getting higher the production cost is going up .
There is no ta1 incentive for e1port of furniture product at the moment. 7owever the industry is
discussing with ;<B so that ta1 incentive can be applied to the sector. 5nder the circumstances ;<B
has given certain e1port target to this sector which the association e1pects to achieve by this year.
(!htar Furniture (cadamy is the first and only private institute that provides education e1clusively on
furniture. The institute commenced on Danuary 4024 and at present the institute has facility to train
student on furniture manufacturing mar!eting general education %li!e ;nglish course& and technical
courses %li!e driving electrical instrument repairing electronics computer education etc&. The
institute has planned to e1pand its branches in coming years %Targeted number of branches by year
isB 9 branches within 402+ 96 branches within 4029 and finally +96 within 4040&. Though the
institute at present concentrates on short length courses %three to si1 months& it has planned to start
four diploma courses also. The institute has applied for approval from Bangladesh Technical ;ducation
Board and hope to have the approval within Dune 4024. The authority of the institute has a plan to
convert the institute into a well functioning polytechnic institute in near future .
Major Furniture Industry
Otobi Limited
,tobi is one of the pioneers in
furniture industry in
Bangladesh. (t present ,tobi
has the widest distribution
networ! all over the
Bangladesh including over
600 retail outlets e1clusive
dealers and franchises. ,tobi
has now franchise in Aol!ata
with distribution centers in sic
cities in India. Cith an
opening capital of Iust T! 3000 @itun Aundu a graduate of fine arts starts the business $ha!a in
29)3. (t present It has +00000 sJ ft factory in #irpur $ha!a. ,tobi is the first Bangladeshi company
to become global. ,tobi builds its flagship 64000 sJ ft retail store in =ulshan $ha!a .
(t present ,tobi furniture can be considered as mar!et leader due to their immense mar!et share of
the branded mar!et %?0*&. $uring last three years ,tobi is having double digit growth in terms of
annual sales . ,tobis products range office household and hospital furniture to specialized furniture
li!e !itchen cabinets built:in cabinets and wor!stations. ,tobi employs over 3000 people in its
corporate office and manufacturing plants.
PARTEX Furniture Industries Ltd
Basi! information of 3tobi .imite4
Establis5e4 &$",
Pro4u!t profile
6oo4en# elamine .aminate4 75ip
Boar4# DF# 7ane an4 etal
furniture+
Annual pro4u!tion volume BDT %#%))#)))#)))
7ountries e2porte4 to 1n4ia
Potential e2port 4estination
Afri!a# 7ana4a# i44le East# 89#
8SA+
Sour!e: Boo;let of Bangla4es5 Furniture St 1nterior De!or
E2position *)&*< available
at5ttp:==>>>+bangla4es5!onsulatela+!om=4o!s=Boo;let?bfi4e2po0
*)&*+p4f
<(KT;L Furniture Industries
/td. is a concern of <arte1
.tar =roup of Bangladesh.
<(KT;L Furniture
manufactures solid timber and
timber:substitutes products.
The industry offers a
combination of timber special
particleboard and decorative
plywood. Cithin a short span
of time the company has been
able to claim a sizable portion
of the mar!et. (t present the production area of the company is about 294000 sft and the company
is building a new factory of area +30000 sft. (round 2400 s!illed manpower are currently employed
in this company. The company has strong bac!ward integration for their furniture production as their
sister concerns produce <article Board #F- board Filled ' Flush $oor <lywood Eeneered Board <E-
.heet " $oor etc .
!A"A!A Furniture Limited
Basi! information of PA@TEA Furniture 1n4ustries .t4+
Establis5e4 &$$&
Pro4u!t profile
6oo4en furniture# .aminates Boar4
furniture# 8p5olsterB (Tubular etal)
furniture# Steels an4 etal furniture+
Annual pro4u!tion
volume
BDT &#,))#)))#)))
7ountries e2porte4 to 1n4ia
Potential e2port
4estination
i44le East# 89# 8SA+
Sour!e: Boo;let of Bangla4es5 Furniture St 1nterior De!or
E2position *)&*< available
at5ttp:==>>>+bangla4es5!onsulatela+!om=4o!s=Boo;let?bfi4e2po0
*)&*+p4f
@(E(@( Furniture /imited a
sister concern of @avana
=roup was founded in 4004.
@(E(@( Furniture has its
factory in .avar operating in
more than 24000 sJ.m area.
It sells ,ffice solutions 7ome
solutions #edical and /ab
solutions Industrial solutions
and Interior $esigning
Furniture.. The company has
around ?0 outlets across Bangladesh and also e1panding business internationally. (t present around
thousand of people are employed in corporate office and manufacturing plants of @avana furniture in
Bangladesh
A#$tar Furnis$ers Ltd %AFL&
(!htar Furnishers /td %(F/&
commenced its business in
29)9. (t present around ?00
people are directly wor!ing
under the shade of (!htar
Furnishers /td. The company
have thier own seasoning
capacity of 4000 cft. solid
wood a month.
Basi! information of NACANA Furniture .imite4
Establis5e4 *))&
Pro4u!t profile
Dome furniture# offi!e furniture# proEe!t
furniture# 4oors# >ar4robes# sa>n timber
Annual pro4u!tion
volume
BDT &#*))#)))#)))
7ountries e2porte4 to 1n4ia
Potential e2port
4estination
European !ountries an4 i44le East
Sour!e: Boo;let of Bangla4es5 Furniture St 1nterior De!or
E2position *)&*< available
at5ttp:==>>>+bangla4es5!onsulatela+!om=4o!s=Boo;let?bfi4e2po0
*)&*+p4f
Basi! information of A;5tar Furnis5ers .t4+
Establis5e4 &$"%
Pro4u!t profile
6oo4en# elamine .aminate4 75ip
Boar4 an4 DF
Annual pro4u!tion
volume
BDT &*)#))#))#)))
7ountries e2porte4 to Australia# 89# 8SA
Potential e2port
4estination
8SA# 89# 8AE
Sour!e: Boo;let of Bangla4es5 Furniture St 1nterior De!or
E2position *)&*< available
at5ttp:==>>>+bangla4es5!onsulatela+!om=4o!s=Boo;let?bfi4e2po0
*)&*+p4f