KUCHING: Sarawak has a huge potential to play a pivotal role in expanding the country’s furniture industry, said Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) general manager Datuk Hashim Bojet.
He said this is due to Sarawak having a lot of raw material that are still not fully utilised especially wood species such as acacia and eucalyptus that are being planted in forest plantations.
“And with our collaboration with the Muar Furniture Association (MFA), we want to explore how the association could expand the industry in Sarawak and how MFA can help us increase our furniture production for export markets,” he said.
He said this during the press conference together with MFA and Sarawak Furniture Industry Association (SFIA) at Pullman Hotel, on Saturday.
He said at the moment, the global market for the furniture industry is estimated to be 500 billion USD.
In comparison furniture exports from Malaysia only account for RM13 billion.
“From MFA only, they have contributed a total RM7 billion for the export industry while in Sarawak we have only contributed less then RM1 million,” he said.
He said another matter discussed with MFA is the investment potential of the association towards the Sarawak Furniture Park.
“Sarawak has planned to develop two furniture parks namely in Demak Laut, Kuching and Tanjung Manis. With this park, we can develop further the industry and then we can achieve our export target of RM4 billion furniture to the global market,” he said.
He added that the park will be developed under the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12), and if demand is good the development will be sped up.
“For our investment target, it will not be less than RM200 million,” he said.
