House-on-stilts sales thrive in Manado

MANADO, North Sulawesi: A furniture businessmen revealed on Wednesday that sales of traditional Minahasa house-on-stilts (rumah panggung) were thriving, with businessmen from four countries becoming regular buyers.

"Our company can sell between 20 and 30 units of Minahasa traditional wooden houses a month. The foreign buyers come from Malaysia, Thailand, Spain and Germany," said Ferdinand Datu, the director of furniture company CV Padatkarya Multijasa.

The company has so far been able to meet the demand, but Ferdinand complained that as time went by, it was getting more difficult for the company to obtain raw materials such as wood.

The price for the houses was quite expensive with each meter square being priced at US$150 for foreign buyers, while local customers paid Rp 650,000 (US$65) per meter square. -- Antara