The sector, which expects an export figure of 6 billion dollars in 2022, reached half of this figure in January.
Istanbul Furniture Fair was held under one roof for the first time this year. The fair, which was held simultaneously between 25-30 January at Istanbul Expo Center Yeşilköy and TÜYAP Fair and Congress Center, has the distinction of being the largest furniture fair in Europe. Nuri Gürcan, Chairman of MOBSAD (Furniture Industry Businessmen Association), stated that they achieved 3 billion dollars of exports at the fair. Evaluating the fair, Gürcan said “We achieved the intensity we expected. We have around 20 thousand foreign visitors. There has been no furniture fair in the world for many years. We have accomplished the first. We are doing this for the first time at two large exhibition centers in Istanbul. Those who want to visit the whole fair spent at least 4 days here.”
It is now popular to open a store abroad
Stating that they increased exports by 26.4% to $4.3 billion in 2021, Chairman Nuri Gürcan expressing that they reached half of their 2022 export target in this fair, said “We expect an export figure of 6 billion dollars in 2022. We realized half of this figure at this fair. Now, there are more people who come to the fairs to open stores more than those who come to buy products from abroad. This request naturally raises the figures. We are happy with this situation. Despite the pandemic, we are one of the growing sectors. This applies to both the domestic market and export. While it normally provides a growth of 10-15% in exports, this figure was 23% last year. This paved the way for the 2023 targets.”
1 billion dollars export target to the USA market
Stating that, “In order for exports to have added value, the raw material can be offered to the furniture sector in the domestic market instead of exporting it, and then we can export them at 3 dollars per kilogram – even our MOBSAD members export a minimum of 10 dollars”, Gürcan said “We are gaining the markets that China lost due to the pandemic. We can say that there is a serious increase in demand for Turkish furniture, especially from European countries. As a sector, I think we have made good use of the pandemic wind, and we can increase this to 6 billion dollars of exports this year. There is a significant increase in the US market, and the European and US markets are valuable because they offer us significant gains in exports per kilogram. We export up to 6 dollars per kilogram to these markets. We want to increase our exports to the US market to 1 billion dollars this year.” MOBSAD President Nuri Gürcan emphasizing the need to increase the capacities for the 2022 targets of the furniture sector, to make new OIZ areas for the furniture sector and to increase the number of vocational high schools in order to solve the problem of qualified personnel, which is the serious problem of sector, added that they made a 3 billion dollar business deal at the fair.
