Thailand furniture industry association called on the government support industry extensively, help long-term sustainable development of furniture industry, chairman of the association, said the association hopes to Thailand furniture manufacturers to produce more products to increase the business value, rather than sell furniture fittings or only supply raw materials to the consumer.

He said the government should be encouraged to Thailand manufacturers use agricultural products as raw materials to produce the furniture, the government should also furniture industry as an important part of the national economy to develop, just like it in the past development of auto industry.

At present, the sale of raw materials for furniture manufacturing in Thailand is twice that of finished furniture. "If we can produce more finished furniture, the furniture industry will export more," he says.

Thai department of industrial and commercial, finance, agriculture, he says, should be in the selection of raw materials, the furniture manufacturers support on marketing and finance, the government should give the furniture manufacturers to provide low-interest loans, because they need to invest in technology and a new machine to increase production.

Demand for furniture in Thailand is growing, with exports of furniture up 13.8 per cent in the first 10 months of this year to bt103 billion, more than 5 per cent of the projected value. Wood and wood products export value of 71.2 billion baht, furniture and accessories export value of 31.8 billion baht, growth mainly by China, India, Australia, and the association of south-east Asian nations (asean), etc. New furniture market demand driven.

He believes the furniture market for Thailand's exports to India will increase after a trade agreement between Thailand and India is finalised.

The United States and Japan are big buyers of Thai furniture, and Chinese consumers will buy more Thai furniture in the future. Asean accounts for 20% of Thailand's furniture exports, he said, and Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia all have great potential. "Furniture exports to Vietnam have increased by 50 per cent this year to bt1.5bn, making Vietnam the sixth-largest market for furniture exports from Thailand," he said.

Thailand's furniture exports are expected to grow 14 per cent to bt124 billion this year as asean buyers turn to Thai manufacturers for furniture because of higher Labour costs in China.

"Thai furniture can be more attractive than Chinese products, but Thai manufacturers need to adopt a more aggressive marketing strategy," he said. For the first time, we have adopted a positive marketing strategy in China as Thai furniture becomes more and more popular with Chinese consumers.

It also urged Thai furniture manufacturers to participate in more trade fairs and meetings in asean markets.

The total market of Thai furniture is expected to reach 200 billion baht this year and increase by 10% in 2017 to 220 billion baht.