The production of furniture in relation to 2011 marked a 5.3 percent drop, but the value of total exports in this area simultaneously increased by 12 percent, confirmed by data from the RS institute for Statistics.
Lazo Šinik, the Secretary of the RS Association of Forestry and Wood in the RS Chamber of Commerce, said that a difficult year lies ahead for producers of furniture, but that there is a very positive trend of finding all the most important markets in European countries.
‘’Even though production in the total value decreased, there is greater export value. For the first 10 months of this year exports were around 100 million, which was the entire amount of exports for last year. This demonstrates a positive trend of an increase of exports in quality furniture’’, said Šinik.
He said that the area of furniture production is returning to how it was during the time of former Yugoslavia.
‘’The export of furniture in timber industry of BiH before the war was around 60 percent, and today this percentage is around 40 percent. This means that there exists space to participate in the final products for the increase in total products’’, said Šinik.
He added that furniture manufacturers are satisfied by new orders coming from the EU, and that customer base is very important to them.
‘’Most of the furniture from the RS is placed in Italy, Germany, Austria, France and Holland. Last year we recorded an increase in exports to EU countries during the crisis, which is good news for us’’, said Šinik.
