Aegean furniture manufacturers strengthened this stability and the synergy created by the cooperation of the sector with the Furniture Sector Meeting.
Ali Fuat Gürle, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Aegean Furniture Paper and Forest Products Exporters Association, said, “Our exports across Turkey in 2023 in the Furniture, Paper and Non-Wood forest products sectors we represent were around 8 billion dollars. Our furniture industry achieved exports of 2023 billion dollars in 4,6. World furniture exports are 310 billion dollars. China is first with 42 percent. Turkey ranks eighth behind Germany, Italy, Mexico, Vietnam, Poland, USA and Canada. Three countries, China, Germany and Italy, account for 52 percent of world furniture exports in total. Turkey ranks 1st in Europe and 2nd in the world in MDF/HDF sheet production. Although Italy's chipboard production is 5 million cubic meters and Turkey's is 12 million cubic meters, Italy gets a 5,7 share of world trade and we get a 1,7 share. “This table reveals how important value-added furniture is.” said.
Hikmet Güngör, Vice President of the Aegean Furniture Paper and Forest Products Exporters Association, said, “We continue our work to increase value-added furniture exports in the Aegean Region with our URGE Project called Aegean Furniture, carried out by our Association with the support of the Ministry of Commerce. This year, we are planning to organize sectoral trade delegations to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Morocco, Senegal and India. Our sectoral trade delegation to Saudi Arabia will be held in May. We will participate nationally in the office furniture section of the second phase of the furniture fairs, which will be held in two phases in Guangzhou, China, where we plan to participate in 2025. The theme of our Game Changing Design Competition, which we will organize for the 4th time this year, has been determined as "Mobilelife" with the aim of revealing innovative products with environmental and user-friendly solutions in the furniture industry. With the Furniture-Life theme, we aim for designs that integrate seamlessly into individuals' frequently changing living spaces and different usage needs, include mobility, can be easily moved and changed, and benefit the more effective use of furniture. In this way, we aim to bring original and innovative designs together with the furniture industry and for our sector to experience an increase in exports with more added value.” he said.
