Woodworkers show creations at Fiesta Inn
Not content to merely hang out a shingle and wait for customers, a number of Belize’s furniture manufacturers teamed up this weekend to show off their creations. The air at the Fiesta Inn was thick with the smell of sawdust and varnish… and News Five’s Patrick Jones was one of many on hand to take in the sights.
The second annual Furniture and Wood Products Show brought together an impressive array of Belizean talent. Whether it is bedroom furniture, something for the kitchen, office or children’s playground, if it could be made from wood, it was at this year’s show.
Caesar Pulido, Production Manager, Medina’s Furniture
“There is a great demand right now. I think the wood industry, for the next, I can see the next five years producing exponentially.”
Luis Cambranes, Managing Director, L.E.A.’s Furniture
“The industry by this show will improve drastically because, like I said, the reason for us coming here is to show people, look, we are doing this quality and if you’re gonna appreciate the quality, you will get good furniture. So basically this show will fill all the gaps to the question that the people have – I wonder if Belizeans they make good furniture? And you can see here, a lot of people have beautiful furniture.”
And there was no shortage of admirers. Not all the exhibitors, however, are into making furniture. Amin Bedran from Pine Lumber Company came to the show to try and introduce the craftsmen to an alternative to decorative hardwoods.
Amin Bedran, General Manager, Pine Lumber Company
“We are just showing off the pine and maybe trying to get the furniture people to start to use pine, not only like what it is normally used for, in construction as you see the treated lumber but also to start to use it in furniture making.”
Competition was fierce among the ten companies that had their products on display but they understand that in the end, it is the customer who has the final say.
Luis Cambranes
“There are people out there that appreciate good work and are willing to pay the prices for that quality work, so once you have a good product, you have a market.”
Juan Coye, Manager, J.R.C. Furniture
“I suspect that if you make it competitive, you know, in my opinion the more that we deliver reliably, the more people will buy. That is my view and that it is made available.”
In fact the local industry seems so promising that even members of the Chinese community are getting involved.
Margaret Hsia, Manager, Unique Co., Ltd.
“First of all it’s for children furniture – kind of the fish table over there and the cat and rabbit chair for children or elephant slide here. And the other items is over there. We show here, is gift items for someone who is looking for the present to give or for the tourists.”
While most of the local manufacturers are gearing up to meet the growing demands of the local market, some are already looking beyond our borders. Jaguar Imports, despite the name, does not bring furniture into Belize but is getting ready to send semi-finished products to the United States.
John Briggs, Manager, Jaguar Imports
“We hope to be in the export business in the next three months. We’ve been in what was the forestry workshop three months now and we’re getting to the point that we are ready to start exporting to the U.S.”
Q: “Do you think we should venture into exporting finished products other than just cutting down the trees in the forest and sending them abroad?”
John Briggs
“Oh yeah, we should, we should be processing everything here. We shouldn’t be shipping any lumber in rough form out of Belize, especially the decorative woods, the mahogany and the secondary hardwoods too, because we have so many beautiful woods here, that we don’t use; we ship them out and somebody else uses them.”
A view that is also shared by Emid Alamilla whose family business has been supplying the Belizean people with custom made furniture for the last twenty-seven years.
Emid Alamilla, Managing Director, Alamilla’s Furniture
“That should be our aim but at the moment we can’t afford to not export any lumber because we need the hard currency as you know. But I think we’re reaching the point where we need to have all our material here and then send finished products, whether finished the way we have it, or make it, as I would say, make it unfinished products, which would be the ideal thing.”
And while that may be an ideal, the large crowd of local customers who came to view the show, should insure that our craftsmen will keep busy in the meantime. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
Concern among some of the manufacturers at the show is that government has resumed the issuing of licenses to export lumber, particularly mahogany and cedar, which could lead to a shortfall on the local market. A check with the Forestry Department confirms that indeed licenses are being issued but on the condition that local manufacturers be given first preference. The Forestry Department official we spoke with said that there is currently a severe shortage of mahogany and that a meeting of officials from the ministries of Natural Resources and Trade will be convened shortly to address the issue. The Wood Products and Furniture Show was sponsored jointly by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and the Wood Products Manufacturers Association.
