CAVIRC.net - The serbian furniture cluster on international markets

The serbian furniture cluster on international markets

The cluster of furniture manufacturers and home construction materials (doors, windows and flooring) producers are part of an important and growing sector of the Serbian economy.
The furniture cluster was established in January 2003 and now includes 800 companies that employ more than 15,000 worker. Serbian furniture manufacturers benefit from the region?s supply of high-quality woods, such as Slavonian oak and Balkan beech.
The wood and furniture industries, accounting for some 2% of gross domestic product, export $100 million worth of goods a year to Eastern and Western European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, etc), of which 30% is "covered" by furniture and woodenware producers.

In recent years, Serbia's furniture sector has gained international recognition for its craftsmanship, design and quality.
In order to make products more competitive on international markets, the Nacional Competitiveness Council (NCC ), made up of leaders in business, civil society and government, is working with cluster members to introduce new finishing techniques and to improve marketing and trade fair participation.

On the one hand, cluster members took part in a wood finishing training course, between june 02 and June 04 2004 at the AWFI (American Wood Finishing Institute) -the best American Wood finishing Institute- which adapted its training lessons to the needs of the Serbian companies.
Beside the presentation of up-to-date wood finishing techniques, AWFI also provided practical training, using both Eurosalon
equipment and their own state-of-the-art equipment, which they brought with them in order to give companies an opportunity to be trained in line with the possibilities offered by modern technology.??

On the other hand, the furniture cluster combines efforts to promote Serbia furniture at some of the world's largest trade fairs to build a trademark for the industry and to brand the whole sector.

For example, following a successful presentation at the international fair in Moscow, a group of leading local furniture and parquetry producers, leaders in the cluster (i.e.: Eurosalon d.o.o. Beograd, Kopaonik d.o.o. Kursumlija, Modul d.o.o. Nis, DIP Sava a.d. Hrtkovci, Saga d.o.o. Beograd Trifunovic d.o.o. Pranjani.), participated at the end of January 2004 in the Koln Fair, one of the biggest and most prestigious international furniture fairs.
Mr. Milovan Bozinovic officially opened the stand, in Hall XIII, on the first floor, where, during the seven days of the fair, the exhibitors presented their most attractive products intended for the European and international markets.
This has been a good opportunity to create new contacts with potential buyers and partners from all over Europe. The potential business partners expressed interest for all forms of cooperation: they are interested in the purchase of locally designed furniture (but not too interested, as a lot still needs to be done on Serbian design, as it turned out), purchase of products with ordered design, transfer of production to Serbia and investing in Serbian cluster companies.
A surprise hit, the Serbian cluster attracted more than 2,000 visits and led to hundreds of sales leads. Within a week of returning from the Cologne fair, cluster companies hosted more than half a dozen delegations of international buyers. Companies are now negotiating deals to enter markets in Italy, Denmark, Germany, and throughout Europe.