Wood furniture makers eye International Hong Kong fair

HCM CITY — Furniture and handicraft makers yesterday discussed participation in a furniture fair in Hong Kong with a visiting delegation from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a trade promotion agency.

The Hong Kong International Furniture Fair will be held from October 28 to 31, and will be organised by the council, a semi-autonomous government agency mandated to promote trade, and the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (HAWA).

Last year, the exhibition attracted 172 exhibitors from 19 countries and territories and more than 8,000 buyers, 50 per cent of them foreigners.


Dang Quoc Hung, vice chairman of HAWA, said the exhibition would provide Vietnamese wood and handicraft makers a good opportunity to find global partners, adding that his association would help them take part.

Viet Nam is now the fourth biggest furniture exporter in the world, and the second in Southeast Asia, he said.

Johnson Ng, exhibition manager at HKTDC, said Vietnamese products would be highlighted at this year’s fair, adding Viet Nam’s outdoor furniture was becoming very attractive to European and American buyers due to a change in lifestyles in those places with people wishing to live closer to nature. — VNS