KUALA LUMPUR: Local furniture manufacturers must continue striving to produce high value-added products through better designs, functionality and green inventions, to ensure the continued success of the industry.
Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said this could be supported by the adoption of smart manufacturing to raise quality, cut production time and replace low skilled jobs.
In addition, the government is encouraging furniture companies to use state-of-the-art technology and automation to improve productivity and competitiveness, she said in her keynote address at the opening of the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) 2019 here, today.
“The furniture industry in Malaysia is well developed and contributes significantly to the nation’s export earnings. As such, the government will continue to facilitate the industry’s growth and development, to ensure it prospers and performs even better as a commodity,” she added.
Kok said one of the measures undertaken to support the furniture industry was to ensure sustainable raw material supply, with the government, having temporarily restricted the export of rubberwood sawn timber for higher value additions on July 1, 2017.
“This move has been positive in ensuring the availability of raw materials, as well as stabilising the rubberwood price for the domestic market.
“The ministry continues to closely monitor the situation and will review the mechanism used, to ensure it works for both the downstream and upstream players, including resolving the issue of raw material shortage,” she added.
According to Kok, of the RM9.83 billion generated through exports of furniture products last year, wooden furniture contributed RM7.79 billion.
Meanwhile, she said to meet the legal requirements of exporting timber in the international market, Malaysia as a leading producer and exporter of tropical timber products would always ensure that it was able to supply wood products sourced from sustainably managed forests.
“For this purpose, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council was set up as an independent organisation, to develop and operate the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS).
“This is to ensure sustainable and sustained timber and timber products meet market and consumers’ demand for certified timber products, especially in the developed countries,” Kok added.
She said currently there were 359 companies certified under the MTCS and the volume of MTCS-certified timber exported in 2018 was 378,387 cubic metres. – Bernama
