Visited By 12,118 People, IFEX 2023 Records Total Transactions Of IDR 3.84 Trillion

Furniture illustration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The 2023 Indonesia International Furniture Expo (IFEX) furniture and handicraft industry exhibition which took place on March 9-12 at JIExpo Kemayoran Jakarta, managed to record a total transaction of up to IDR 250 million US dollars or IDR 3.84 trillion (exchange rate of IDR 15,372 per US dollar) and attracted 12,118 visitors from 115 countries.

"We are still optimistic that the value of follow-up transactions can reach 700 million US dollars, so that the transaction value we are targeting at the beginning can be achieved," said Chairman of the Presidium of the Indonesian Furniture and Crafts Industry Association (HIMKI) Abdul Sobur in his official statement, Monday, March 13.

Sobur said, next year, his party is ready to attend with more participants and much better products.

"There are still many styles and varieties of the archipelago that can still be explored and presented by the participants. We hope that next year there will be more unique products presented from the hands of craftsmen and kiosks that can be a competitive advantage that cannot be accompanied by other countries," he said.

There are 10 major IFEX 2023 visitors, including Australia, India, the United States, France, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Spain.

Meanwhile, President Director Dyandra Promosindo Daswar Marpaung stated that he was always ready to support HIMKI in organizing the next IFEX.

"Together with HIMKI, we are always ready to support the growth of the Indonesian furniture and handicrafts industry. The various notes we got at this year's event will be an improvement for us to improve the implementation of IFEX next year from various sides," he said.

For your information, the furniture and handicraft industry is one of the important contributors to the national economy. This industry is included in the top five industries with the highest growth in the non-oil and gas processing industry sector in 2021.

The growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the furniture industry in 2021 will reach 8.16 percent or well above the growth of the non-oil and gas processing industry which is at the level of 3.67 percent.

The export performance of the furniture and handicraft industry also continues to show positive results. In the last five years, the increase in industrial export performance has reached 78 percent. Meanwhile, last year the export value of the furniture and handicraft industry touched the figure of 3.5 billion US dollars.