KUCHING, Aug 26: Muar Furniture Association (MFA) is keen to explore investment opportunities and business prospects in the proposed furniture parks in Sarawak.
MFA president Steve Ong, who led an 18-member delegation on a four-day fact-finding mission to Sarawak since Aug 24, conveyed their interest to Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan during a courtesy call at Wisma Sumber Alam recently.
According to a statement today, engagement sessions with Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), Sarawak Timber Association (STA) and Sarawak Furniture Industry Association (SFIA) were conducted in conjunction with their visit to understand the policies, incentives, costs and resources offered to furniture manufacturers in Sarawak.
The delegates also took the opportunity to visit the proposed furniture park sites in Demak Laut and Tanjung Manis.
Muar, with approximately 800 furniture manufacturers, is the largest furniture hub in Malaysia. It contributes more than RM7 billion and 60 per cent of the national export earnings of RM12.7 billion in 2021.
Awang Tengah, also Minister for International Trade and Investment, urged MFA members to seriously consider spreading their wings to Sarawak to catalyse the development of the furniture industry in Sarawak.
“We have enabling factors such as industrial land, competitive electricity and water tariff, business-friendly policies, stability, abundant supply of renewable and sustainable timber from forest plantations and good infrastructure.
“These could help reduce your production costs. It also augurs well with the Sarawak Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 to promote high value-added timber industry utilising resources from planted forests to generate annual export earnings of RM8 billion by 2030,” he said in the statement.
Also present at the meetings were the STIDC general manager Datu Hashim Bojet, STA chief executive officer Annie Ting and SFIA president Leo Chiang Kok Sze. — DayakDaily
