Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Vice Chairman Shubhashis Bose has urged the private universities to introduce a department to develop skilled manpower for the country’s furniture industry.
“The entrepreneurs and the private universities should jointly open the department to teach the students about latest designs and developments in the industry,” he told a press conference in Dhaka yesterday.
The conference was to tell about the third Bangladesh Furniture and Interior Decoration (BFID) Expo-2014 that begins in Dhaka on Sunday. The show is to display the varieties and excellence of local furniture and home furnishing products for the buyers from both home and abroad.
The 3-day fair would be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) to be inaugurated by Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.
Bose said the EPB would request the government to provide to cash incentives to the furniture exporters to boost the fast growing furniture sector.
According to EPB data, a total of 20 foreign retailers have registered with the EPB to visit the fair. The EPB has offered the prospective buyers some complementary facilities like accommodation, transportation and food.
Bose said the entrepreneurs have to blend traditional designs with modern trend with latest technology to meet the consumers’ demands for home and abroad. The country has raw materials and cheaper labour and “if we can develop the sector, it can employ 50 lakh workers,” he said. Currently, the sector employs 25 lakh people.
Earnings from furniture export have seen a 32% rise to over $25m in the first eight months of the current fiscal due to increased demands in the global markets, according to EPB. It was $19.20 million in the same period last fiscal year when the total furniture export stood at $31.41 million.
EPB, Furniture Exporters Association, Bangladesh Handicrafts Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Banglacraft), Bangladesh Jute Diversified Products Manufactures and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Furniture Industries Owners Association in collaboration with Jute Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC) are jointly orgainsing the event.
A total of 51 orgainsations are expected to participate in the fair to display their state of art furniture products, organisers said yesterday.
At present, the country exports office furniture, metal furniture, seats with metal frames, bedroom furniture, wooden furniture, and furniture of plastic, parts of furniture, mattress supports, sleeping bag and lamp and light fittings to various destinations of the world.