The first Vietnam ASEAN International Furniture & Home Accessories Fair to be held in HCM City from August 29 to September 1 will provide a platform for Southeast Asian furniture and home accessories producers to display their products and connect with buyers from all over the world.

Organised by the Alliance Handicraft Wooden Fine Art Corporation (Lien Minh Company), the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Viet Nam Coconut Association, the event seeks to raise Viet Nam's profile as a global hub for furniture trading and promoting furniture brands from Southeast Asian countries.

It is expected to attract more than 350 companies with 1,400 booths and will feature national pavilions from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines, and local ones, Dang Quoc Hung, general director of Lien Minh Company, said.

Themed “Gathering the best South East Asian furniture,” the fair will showcase indoor and outdoor furniture, decorative items, gifts, landscape products, handicrafts, materials, and woodworking machinery.

VIFA ASEAN 2023 is also part of a series of exhibitions held during the international buying season in autumn in Asia, including KOFURN in South Korea, CIFF Shanghai, Furniture China, and IFFINA in Indonesia.

Southeast Asia is a leading global production hub for furniture and handicrafts.

Viet Nam is the largest furniture exporter in Southeast Asia and the second largest in the world after China.

But its exports have seen a decline of 28.5 per cent in the first four months of the year to less than US$4 billion, Tran Ngoc Liem, director of VCCI’s HCM City chapter, said.

Many businesses have seen a sharp drop in export orders because of the global economic downturn and high inflation in many countries, which has forced consumers there to tighten their belts, he said.

In the event, organising trade fairs to help businesses promote their products and attract new customers is imperative, he added.

A booth at the 14th Vietnam International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair held in March. — Photo courtesy of the organiser

Hung said VIFA ASEAN is organised following the success of the 14th Vietnam International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair held in March, when it received a record 18,000 visitors, including nearly 6,000 international visitors from 117 countries and territories.

Many contracts were signed worth an estimated $100 million, he said.

Cao Van Dong, general director of Binh Duong Province-based Kettle Interiors Asia, said the fair helped his company sell 24 containers of products worth $500 million, reconnect with many old customers and meet over 40 new ones.

He expected the VIFA ASEAN event too to fetch great opportunities for his firm and help the woodworking industry in general get new customers, he added. — VNS