The role of MFIC - the major steps that need to be taken to promote and develop Malaysian

furniture industry

As a furniture manufacturing and export driven national body, MFIC plays a catalytic role in
assisting both the private and public sectors towards the promotion and development of the
Malaysian furniture industry in the global market place. With the objective to enhance the
Malaysian furniture industry, it has translated to activities such as organising promotional and
marketing activities to enhance the reputation of Malaysia furniture in the internatinal arena and
coordinate the arrangement of overseas furniture fairs and trade missions for Malaysian furniture
manufactures and exporters.

The importance of international expansion using a global manufacturing approach: priorities and
objectives

Global manufacturing approach has created many opportunities and more and more Malaysian
furniture companies are taking advantage out of this revolution. In line with the global
manufacturing revolution, the Malaysian furniture companies' priorities and objectives are very
must focus in reducing manufacturing costs by utilising low labour cost countries, reduce
business risk and filters currency exchange fluctuations and also a source of enterprise growth,
achieved by assessing new markets.

The greatest challenges to face when it comes to innovations and research & developement in
the timber industry

In many developed countries, innovations and research & development lead the private sectors to
move. However, it will be different on our end. I would say the greatest challenge is to develop
our research & developement output to be more market driven rather than reasearch and
development driven. Thus, reasearch & development experts must continue colloborate with
industries players to produce more market driven output to further drive the industry higher.

Corporate social responsibility and the importance of environment sustainability: vision and
achievement.

Corporate social responsibility is about doing business in trasparent manners that are based on
ethical values, respect for the community, employees, the environment, shareholders and other
stakeholders. it is designed to deliver sustainable value to society at large. I would like to share
with you on some developments on the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC), which is
very much focus on the environment aspect. As for your infomation, The Malaysian Timber
Certification Council (MTCC) is an independent organisation established to develop and operate
the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) in order to provide independent
assessments of forest management practices in Malaysia as well as to meet the demand for
certified timber products. With the system in place, the timber is known to be harvested from a
legal source and has a Chain-of-Custody where all suppliers have the right permits, mandatory
approvals and all the documents required by the specific permitting frameworks.

Opportunities in the U.S. Market

Although many negative statements came out from U.S. market such as "Great Recession of
2011–2012", U.S. economy confidence more negative and unemployment rate is high. I am still
very optimistic in 2011 and beyond. I strongly believe the current situation will stablise and
recover in maybe mid of 2011. A piece of good news, Malaysian furniture exports to USA
increased 15.4% from RM 1.4 billion, for the period January- August 2009 to RM 1.6 billion for the
period January- August 2010. This strong rebound shown that Malaysian furniture exports to USA
continue to be strong despite many worries about dynamic of U.S. economy.