- More than 100 leading companies and interior designers are expected to display their products
ISLAMABAD: The three-day10th ‘Interiors Pakistan’ international exhibition will commence today (Friday) to showcase different handmade world-class furniture items and interior products as well as to highlight the export potential of the local furniture manufacturing industry.
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar will inaugurate the exhibition, which is organised by the Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC), at the Expo Centre, Lahore, according to a press release.
More than 100 leading local companies and interior designers are expected to exhibit their products in front of approximately 200,000 to 250,000 people. Visitors on the lookout to buy quality furniture will be able to enjoy a special discount of up to 30 per cent on different items exhibited at the event.
The exhibition will also provide the younger designers and architects to see the market trends and display their own work alongside established professionals.
“PFC is continuing its efforts to develop a Pakistani presence in more countries and to act as a focal forum for Pakistani furniture designers and manufacturers to enter the international market,” said PFC head Mian Kashif Ashfaq.
Unfolding the distinctive features of the mega event, he said Interiors Pakistan is an opportunity for the largest furniture companies and interior designers in Pakistan to display their products.
“With its previous experience, PFC remains one of the most distinctive channels for regional and international companies to penetrate the global market,” he said, adding that it is renowned among international buyers for quality, value and wide selection of all types of furniture.
Ashfaq noted Pakistan’s wood industry is well-developed and captures 95 per cent of the country’s entire furniture market. “The country has more than 700 units of wooden furniture with Chiniot alone meeting 80 per cent of the furniture demand in the country. Gujarat, with world-class furniture, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi are important furniture centres,” he added.
He said that Pakistan imported furniture worth Rs1.69 billion in 2015-16, lamenting that import of furniture items could create a viable threat of unemployment in the local furniture industry.
“The furniture industry in Pakistan has great potential as it can be both a labour-intensive and capital-intensive sector,” he opined.
The PFC chief emphasised that the government should cooperate with local furniture manufacturers and exporters in organising exhibitions in foreign countries so that Pakistan’s exports could be promoted in the international market.
