Thai Furniture Industry Situation
veiw 173 Since 2003, Thai furniture and parts exports have decreased constantly, while wood and wood products have increased continuously. The export figures of wood and wood products are higher than the furniture and parts, and also ranked as number 22nd from number 24th in the past years.
According to Thailand geography, we have advantage in natural forest and florae resources. However, the deforestation without replacement caused the dramatically shortage of woods. This situation has been exempted for the rubber, since it is an economic wood of Thailand that has been planted and exported in the high volume. In 2005 Thailand planted rubber covered the area of 14,497 thousands Rai and is expected to increase to other region beside Southern part of Thailand.
Woods that use in the industry could be classifies into two groups. First is the Hardwood like Teakwood, Redwood, Makha wood, and Pradu wood (ไม้ประดู่). Second is the Softwood like Rubber and Eucalyptus. These two main woods are exported mainly for construction and wood products such as frames, crafting and decoration items. The main sources of woods are Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lumpang, Lumpoon, Prea, and Nakorn Sawan. And the Thai major export markets are United States, Japan, and Switzerland.
In the wood furniture industry, there are three types of furniture; unmovable, movable, and knock-down furniture. In 2006, all furniture production was about 54.5 millions items, slightly decreased from the previous year.
The structure of furniture manufacturers are small enterprises around 90% of total 15,000 manufacturers and this number tends to decrease. Most of the manufacturers are furniture and wood products, sawing and pushing woods, and cutting, respectively.
Reference: Report of Strategic Plan for Wood and Furniture Development 2010, the Office of Industrial Economics
