IFEX 2014- one of the leading furniture exhibitions

Apr 16, 2014

The first edition of the Indonesia International Furniture Expo, IFEX 2014, was successfully organised by UBM Asia on 11-14 March 2014.  The exhibition completely filled all the available space of Indonesia's largest exhibition venue, the Jakarta International Exhibition Center (JIExpo), with exactly 400 exhibiting companies. The three-day exhibition attracted 6,113 trade visitors, of which 2,021 were overseas buyers sourcing Indonesian furniture for sale in Europe, China, the USA andAustralasia.

Emphasising the importance of furniture exports to the nation's economy, the opening ceremony was attended by both the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Muhammad Luti, and the Minister of Industry, Mr. Mohamad S. Hidayat. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Soenoto, Chairman of the Indonesian Furniture & Handicraft Association (AMKRI), predicted that Indonesia would achieve furniture exports of US$5 billion within the next five years.

The exhibits covered a wide range of products, from contemporary furniture and mass-market offerings to traditional, handcrafted furniture. The materials used reflected Indonesia's abundant supply of sustainably sourced woods, as well as rattan and textiles. The exhibition also included a rich selection of home furnishings, decorations and handicraft items.

Exhibitors commented that the quality of buyers they met at the fair had been very high and several companies reported record on-site sales. Mr. Hatta Sinatra Chairman of major rattan furniture manufacturer Indosurya Mahakam, remarked “IFEX was a very good exhibition for us. We met all our key customers from abroad as well as some new buyers.” Mr. Rudy Halim, Chairman of panel and solid wood furniture producer Rimba Central Management Group, commented: "The quality of the buyers was very high. We exceeded our sales target for the show."

The 6,113 international buyers who attended IFEX 2014 came from a total of 108 countries. In descending order, the top ten countries were: Australia, China, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, India, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.  Several official buyer delegations visited the exhibition, including groups from Belgium and Turkey.

A full program of meetings, seminars and awards were held in conjunction with the exhibition. This included the annual general meeting of the International Association of Furniture Publications, seminars on the furniture markets of Europe and the USA, and the IFEX Indonesia Designers Awards Ceremony.

Mr. Christopher Eve, Senior Vice President of UBM Asia Ltd., comments: “UBM Asia is excited about the success of the first edition of IFEX. Indonesia’s export furniture industry has huge potential for growth backed by is vast resources of sustainably sourced raw materials and extensive manpower resources. We expect IFEX to increasingly become one of the leading furniture exhibitions in the region as more venue capacity becomes available for expansion of the exhibition. The addition of IFEX to our portfolio of world-leading furniture exhibitions is significant. By coordinating the dates of IFEX with those of our Malaysia International Furniture Fair (MIFF), we can offer international furniture buyers with convenient one-trip, two-stop access to two of Asia’s leading sources of furniture – Malaysia and Indonesia.”

For more information on the show, check http://www.ifexindonesia.com/