Denmark eyes Indonesian furniture
JAKARTA (JP): Danish Ambassador Michael Sternberg said yesterday Indonesian furniture had good prospects in his country due to the steadily rising demand of Danish consumers.
"Denmark's demand for furniture, including those from Indonesia is high," Sternberg told a workshop on business opportunities in Nordic countries, particularly for furniture, giftware and interior decoration.
The workshop was held jointly by the National Agency for Export Development (NAFED) and the Danish Import Promotion Office (DIPO) for products from developing countries.
According to DIPO's expert Marie Visti Hausen, Danes tend to spend a larger portion of their income on housing and interior decoration, including furniture, than on clothing and cars.
Indonesia has dominated Denmark's market of garden furniture like sun umbrellas and plastic garden chairs and tables, Sternberg said.
Indonesia has a great chance in the Danish market because Denmark does not have much raw materials, not to mention the lousy climate, Sternberg said.
Sternberg told The Jakarta Post that the Danish Development Assistant Funds for developing countries had extended financial assistance through DIPO to help promote Indonesian furniture in the Danish market.
Assistance
"Indonesia received a large portion of Danish Development Assistance Funds because Indonesia has so many products to be exported to Denmark," he said.
The Danish government had financed the participation of several Indonesian furniture manufactures in the annual furniture fair in Copenhagen for the last four years, he said.
DIPO has opened production training centers for workers in the furniture and rattan industry in cities such as Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya and Banjarmasin funded by the Danish Bilateral Development Agency, Sternberg said.
DIPO also planned to invite six to eight furniture manufactures from Jepara, Semarang, Jakarta and Bali to Denmark to gain more knowledge on procedures, tastes and style preferences of the Danish market, he said.
Antique
According to Hausen, the newest trend is the antique and rustic look of faded-painted furniture.
"The newest tendency seems to go back to what you could call a classic Scandinavian style -- simplicity, functionalism, white and natural colors and light furniture," she told the workshop.
According to NAFED chairman, Zulkifli Siregar, Indonesia's furniture export has steadily increased to US$864 million in 1995 from $783 million in 1994 and $675 million in 1993.
Indonesia's total exports also increased during the same period to $45.4 billion in 1995 from $40.1 billion in 1994 and $36.8 billion in 1993, he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's exports to Nordic countries -- Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway-- over the last five years has increased by 11.03 percent per annum to reach $233 million in 1995, he said.
Indonesia's market share in the countries' imports, however, remains very small, amounting only to 0.04 percent in Denmark, 0.03 percent in Finland and 0.07 percent each in Sweden and Norway in 1995. (04)