--By Pinaki Roy

The Furniture and Furnishing Expo (Furnex) 2013 expo will exhibit and display home & office furniture; dining, kitchen, bathroom furniture & appliances; outdoor furniture; flooring & furnishing; steel & wooden railing; wooden & aluminum windows & doors, partition, false ceiling among others. The participating companies will also have plywood, boards, laminates; furniture machinery tools/fittings & fabricators; tiles, marbles, granite; upholstered, mattresses, cushions, mats; paints, wallpapers; adhesives, interior items during the five-day event.

All in all, Furnex Nepal 2013 will provide a single platform for buyers and sellers, informed Kabindra Joshi, Spokesperson of the expo and General Secretary of NFFA. He added that all the leading furniture producers of the country will be participating in the expo along with some foreign brands. A total of 59 stalls will be erected for the expo in an area of 11,000 sqm, “While 57 of them will be housed in the exhibition hall of Bhrikuti Mandap, another two stalls will be provided space outside the hall,” said Joshi. 

The expo promises to offer a complete furniture and furnishing solution to the visitors through the five-day event. It is being organised to familiarise people with the current availability of furniture and furnishing products in the market. “We look to inform the visitors at the expo about the usefulness of the products along with pricing, maintenance and other related information,” Joshi told.

The visitors at the expo will be given valuable information on how to choose products to suit their needs. Confirmed participants for the expo include Furniture Land, Index Furniture and S B Furniture among foreign brands. As for the local brands, Alpha Interiors, Wood N Style, Sann Furniture, Bira Furniture, Yeti Carpet, Yeti Polymer, S T Carpet, Duro Mattress and Darling Mattress among others have already confirmed participation. 

Floor Plan for Furnex Nepal 2013

Expo Expectations 

The organisers are expecting to attract 5,000 official and 150,000 general visitors at Furnex Nepal 2013. “We are organising the event with the aim of making it a branding expo. Hence, there will be no emphasis on sales during the event,” Joshi stated. He said that the importers, manufacturers and government functionaries will be brought together to ensure a conducive environment for the benefit of the industry. 

The organisers will also conduct seminars at the expo to create an important platform for stakeholders, industrialists and general public to interact, said Joshi. He added that the event will be emphasising on Nepali products and become instrumental in popularising furniture produced by local craftsmen.

Imported Products 

A whopping 60 per cent of the furniture and furnishing products available in Nepal are imported. The imported goods include flooring, furnishing (except carpets), furniture and décor items. “While imports have swelled over the years, domestic production is declining on a consistent basis,” said Joshi. 

While overpopulation due to excessive migration of people to different urban centres in Nepal has resulted in increased demand for more furniture, domestic manufacturers have not been able to supply the market demand. “The decline in domestic production has not stopped people from buying furniture and hence, traders are increasingly depending on imported products to meet the market demand,” Joshi reasoned. 

Manufacturers allege that lack of skilled craftsmen, power cuts, non-availability of raw materials and absence of a favourable government policy are among the reasons why domestic production has declined. They said, “We need a proper government mechanism to help us boost our industry.” They added that the volatile political environment of the country too has hit them hard.

Members of Furnex Nepal 2012 Organising Committee addressing a press conference last year

Future Prospects 

An investment of Rs 20 billion has already been made in the domestic furniture and furnishing industry, Joshi stated. He added, “We have a strategy to propose the government and bring its attention to the industry and give it its due treatment.” 

Apart from the cultural and historical significances, traditional furniture industry can also be a considerable boost to the economy of the country if it is run smoothly. “If it is possible, why not provide a boost to the local industry and keep the money in the country,” said Joshi. He added that the domestic manufacturers, if encouraged and treated properly, have the potential to export in addition to fulfilling local demand.

“The furniture and furnishing industry can look forward to have better days ahead,” claimed Joshi, “Because these items have become necessities today and are not luxury anymore.” He said that housing & real estate, residences, office complexes, hotels & restaurants, schools & colleges and development projects are the booming sectors for the furniture and furnishing industry. 

Furnex 2013, the five-day Furniture and Furnishing Expo in its second year, will kick off at Bhrikuti Mandap on 25 September. The branding exhibition, also the first of its kind in the country, is being organised to uplift and give exposure to domestic as well as imported products. The event, organised in 2012 for the first time, met with reasonable success and NFFA hopes to fare better this year.

“Encouraged by the overwhelmingly response of the participants last year, we planned to make it an annual event,” said Joshi, “We have gained experience during Furnex 2012 and hope it will come handy in organising the event this year.” Furnex 2013 hopes to attract homemakers and other potential buyers looking for furniture and furnishing products, along with hoteliers, industrialists, business entrepreneurs, students, and interior designers during the event. 

The organisers are hoping that, at the expo, customers will become familiar with quality and variety of locally manufactured furniture, eventually encouraging them to use locally produced items.