Mississippi helps manufacturers export
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 30, 2007
Tupelo, Miss. — The Mississippi Development Authority will meet with Mississippi furniture and components manufacturers this month to help them boost their exports to Latin America.
The week of April 23, an MDA representative will meet with manufacturers in northeast Mississippi to discuss the export process and export opportunities.
In recent years, the state's furniture industry has declined, largely due to competition from Asian imports. According to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state's furniture and related product manufacturing employment fell from 31,000 in October 2000 to 26,000 in October 2006.
"For the last several years, our furniture industry has been on the defensive," said G. Stephen Taylor, interim director of the Franklin Furniture Institute at Mississippi State University, in a letter inviting manufacturers to participate in the export event.
"Largely because of low-cost imports from China, our manufacturers have had to become 'lean and mean.' The critical need to reduce costs has become the driving force behind most of our decisions. And for the most part, we have become a much more efficient, leaner industry. But now, it's time to go on the offensive," Taylor said.
Taylor said furniture exports are one way to do that. In 2006, he said, Mississippi only exported some $6.2 million in furniture, placing it 13th among states in value of furniture exports.
And furniture components sent to China accounted for much of that value. "That's fine, but what we want to do is export more of the finished product," said Taylor.
With high poverty rates in some countries, Latin America could prove a challenging market, he said. But he believes there is a thriving middle class in countries such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil that would like to buy U.S.-made furniture.
"I want to play off the fact that this is U.S.-made furniture," he said. "The products are high quality and can bring in a premium price point. That is where the United States can compete extremely well. We are not going to underprice China, so why try?"
Mississippi State was instrumental in organizing the event in conjunction with the Development Authority.
In the future, the MDA plans to hold similar face-to- face meetings in other parts of the state. To participate, or for more information, contact Rose Boxx in the MDA's International Trade Office at (601) 359-3045, or via e-mail at rboxx@mississippi.org.
