Local wood, furniture players to form a club
dubai — The wood and furniture industry in Dubai is planning to set up a club of local companies in order to drive the growth of the sector and help overcome any challenges faced by the local players, an industry executive said.
Speaking at Dubai Woodshow, Ghassan Farouk Afiouni, CEO, Steel Wood Industries, said he is currently engaged with other industry partners in order to form a club of local players in order to expedite the growth of the industry. There are hundreds of companies currently in the industry producing different kinds of products.
Afiouni disclosed that they are currently negotiating with the government entities as well to set up this club.
“We will ally with other entities to help ensure that local furniture that is coming to the market is of the top quality,” he said, adding that the body will help the local manufacturers to improve and monitor quality of the local produce and also help exporters to overcome any challenges.
He has applied for the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma) certification as well. He also displayed his company’s product at the Dubai WoodShow. The event also hosts six country pavilions at the Dubai Woodshow, including Canada, China, Finland, Russian Federation, Turkey and the USA.
The exhibition covers an area of more than 17,000 square meters. More than 12,000 trade visitors are expected to visit the three-day international exhibition, which concluded on Wednesday. The UAE’s Dh4 bil-
We will ally with other entities to help ensure that local furniture that is coming to the market is of the top quality, Ghassan Farouk Afiouni, CEO, Dubai Woodshow
lion wood and wood products trade will get a solid growth push from the Dh285 billion real estate transactions in Dubai’s real estate sector in 2017 as the emirate sees more than 50,000 new homes are delivered in the emirate in 2017 and 2018.
Dawood Al Shezawi, president of Strategic Marketing and Exhibitions, said Dubai WoodShow provides an important gateway for wood and timber traders, woodworking machineries suppliers, furniture and joineries to take advantage of the latest technologies and innovations in the industry — which is changing very fast. “The massive construction activities in the GCC, especially in Dubai that is driven by Expo 2020-related infrastructure and projects — will continue to drive demand for wood products and we expect to see the wood import and export value to exceed Dh4 billion recorded in 2016 — in the following years.
“We are pleased to bring more than 412 exhibitors from 55 countries and expect the visitor turnout to exceed that of the previous editions of Dubai WoodShow — that has created an important benchmark for the industry.”
Demand for wood, wood products and woodworking industry is expected to grow further due to the ongoing construction projects the value of which in September 2017 reached $252.7 billion (Dh927.4 billion), according to BNC Network, there were 7,531 projects.