The production of furniture in the RS this year finally succeeded in becoming a leader in the export of wood, because the value of exported finished products exceeded the value of logs sold abroad.
To be more precise, in the first four months of this year the export of furniture was worth 51 million KM, while the export of wood in the same period was 50,4 million KM, said that Association of Forestry and wood processing at the RS Chamber of Commerce.
The strong growth and what is considered in the exports in comparison to 2005, when the wood processing sector market the export of furniture worth 44 million KM, while last year it ended in the export of 123 million KM.
Lazo Šinik, the Secretary of this Association, said that according to the last official results as of April last year, the export of furniture and the production of wood increased by 18,55 percent, and that at the same time there was an overall sector export worth 101 million KM.
“This is one of the few industries that is marking a bigger export than import and this is by 3,8 times’’, said Šinik.
Most of the furniture is placed in the EU countries and it is primarily in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland.
He said that participation of furniture in the wood processing sector in pre-war BiH was 60 percent, and that in the RS the current trend is approaching a good percentage.
“The sector of furniture production has been resistant in the process, even in the condition of the crisis, which clearly shows all data with the exception of a slight decrease in 2009’’, said Šinik.
He said that the achieved results showed how important it is that with the mediation of the RS, an agreement was reached between “Šuma RS” and manufacturers, which guaranteed the safety and accuracy of the purchase of raw materials.
The wood processing and furniture production has around 14,000 employees.
Edin Dacić, Director of the Company “Standard” from Prnjavor, where IKEA products are made, said that in the 13 years of business, this company was tied to this Swedish global company, and every year marks nearly constant growth.
He added that in the last year, ‘Standard’ hired 120 new employees, and that now in the factories there are 400 employees.
“Our business is tied to this big Swedish company that has more than 300 of its sales houses around the world and despite the crisis is constantly rising’’, said Dacić.
He pointed out that currently the biggest obstacle to business people is the measure of the abolition of tax exemptions from salaries and he added that to return to the state of two and a half years ago, when this measure was not in effect, was an important impetus for the growth of the wood sector, but also for all other business branches.
(Source: ekapija.com)
