Product variety grows at Malaysia fair
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 2, 2006
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Buyers from around the world found a wide mix of product and styles here in March at the 12th annual Malaysian International Furniture Fair.
Along with its core mix of promotional bedroom and dining room furniture, the show featured leather upholstery, occasional furniture, metal beds, home entertainment and home office products.
The show was the largest in the event's 12-year history, taking up more than 700,000 square feet in two venues, the Putra World Trade Center and the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. Many of the 400 exhibitors were from Malaysia, but there was representation from 14 other countries as well.
The product mix is export-oriented. Officials claim that orders from the show account for at least 30% of Malaysia's furniture export volume.
Visitor counts were not available by press time. The show usually attracts some 7,000 international visitors from 130 countries, including about 500 from North America.
"This show is internationally well known," said Ho Siong Choon, executive director of home entertainment console producer JB Wood Inds., which has shown at MIFF for seven years. "Here, I can meet buyers from all over the world."
JB Wood sells a small portion of its glass and metal plasma TV stands to U.S. customers and wants to boost the percentage to perhaps 30% in the next two years, Choon said.
Occasional and formal dining manufacturer Hume Furniture Inds. already makes 45% of its sales to the U.S. and Canadian markets. It wants to grow that percentage, selling to both wholesale and retail clients.
Hume hoped to meet some North American prospects at MIFF, but General Manager Law Sun Seang said most of his traffic was from Europe and the Middle East. Those customers like Hume's medium-priced, traditional style products featuring cherry, ash burl, maple burl and walnut veneers.
Kimble Furniture offered bedroom, casual dining and youth bedrooms at medium to lower-medium price points at MIFF. With 65% of it business done in the United States, the company is trying to boost its sales in Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
Kimble sales representative Robert Yao admitted that China remains a top competitor. But he said his company has an advantage as a solid-wood producer thanks to an available supply of rubberwood in Malaysia, and added that the company can compete with China in quality, consistency and delivery times.
Malaysia-based case goods manufacturer Tomisho also uses rubberwood solids in many of its transitional style bedrooms and casual dining sets. The company has its own timber and wood processing resources, which helps it control the quality of raw materials and finished goods.
Today, 25% of Tomisho's volume goes to the U.S. market, a figure that Executive Director Bruce Lim Eng Ann said could grow to 40% in two years. Some of the growth could come from wholesale accounts, and Ann also expects to do more container-direct business with retailers.
Casual dining manufacturer Win Shine Inds. has shown at MIFF for three years and views the event as important to maintaining its U.S. business.
"The U.S. is the biggest market for us," said company marketing executive Chai Wei Wei. "This show helps us get new U.S. customers and see some existing ones too," he said. "It helps us to increase our exposure to the U.S. market."
Win Shine displayed new contemporary style dinettes and pub sets in dark cappuccino finishes. The goal was to show the breadth of its line in one of its 12 finish options. Having too many colors in the room can confuse customers, Wei said.
Along with its finish options, Win Shine also touted its solid-wood story.
Like other producers, it mainly uses rubberwood solids, Wei said.
Case goods manufacturer Wyser Furniture also uses rubberwood solids in its contemporary style case goods and occasional lineup.
With five-piece bedrooms at $600 wholesale, it was hoping to gain more business from the United States — which represents about 20% of its total volume — as well as Europe and Australia.
Wyser also is building a $10 million, 250,000-square-foot factory, a move that could double its capacity beyond its current production of 30 to 40 containers a month.
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