<font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f8e7ba"><span class="htmla_titolo"><p align="center"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f8e7ba">WOOD & FURNITURE CLUSTER</font></p><span class="htmla_titoletto"><p align="left"><u><a href="/htdocs/Sharing/Wood/The-Wood-Furniture-value-chain.txt_cvt.htm">Click here to view the model</a></u></p></span><span class="htmla_testo"><p align="left"><img style="WIDTH: 251px; HEIGHT: 196px" height="196" hspace="30" src="/files/01705200511.51.02-legno2.bmp" width="251" align="right" border="0" />Furniture is big business. Between 1995 and 2000 trade in furniture worldwide grew by 36 per cent, faster than world merchandise trade as a whole (26.5 per cent), apparel (32 per cent) and footwear (1 per cent). By 2000 it was the largest low-tech sector, with total global trade worth US$57.4 billion, exceeding apparel (US$51 billion) and footwear (US$36.5 billion). In the European Union (EU), extra-intra furniture imports grew by 20 per cent from 1995 to 2000 compared with 17 per cent for total extra-intra EU imports.</p></span></span></span /><span class="htmla_testo">This pages provide a brief description of the wood furniture industry and highlight the importance of exports wood furniture products for developing countries and emerging and transitional economies. We try to map the <strong><a href="/htdocs/Sharing/Wood/The-Wood-Furniture-value-chain.txt_cvt.htm">wood furniture value chain</a></strong> and open-up the nature of the buying function, since this function represents the key form of control over global production networks in this sector (that is, the wood furniture chain is what is increasingly referred to as a "buyer-driven chain"). </span></span /><span class="htmla_testo">Because of its resource and labour intensity, the <strong>wood furniture sector</strong> presents an opportunity for developing countries and their firms to participate effectively in the global economy. </span></span /></font><!--EndDoc 19639601-->