Reason Why Buying Furniture from Indonesia is a Great Investment to Make
Undeniably, Indonesia is a renowned country known of being a furniture manufacturer. Derived from the data of the Indonesian Ministry of Industry, furniture export has shown an escalated trend: starting from US$1.6 billion, US$ 1.63 billion, and US$1.69 billion for year 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively.
Following the trend several years before, in 2020, furniture export also rose quite significantly. It was said within the seven first months of 2020, an additional US$1.12 billion was obtained or 9.41% from the year before. That’s why Indonesian government was optimist their furniture industry could reach US$2 billion for their export value that year.
It’s not surprising since Indonesia has a lot of furniture manufacturers, as well as private-owned galleries owned by self-employed artisans. It makes the country becomes advanced in terms of furniture trade.
However, not all artisans and manufacturers grow with the mind to produce quality goods and services. That’s why, before purchasing it, it’s important to learn and understand the essentials of Indonesia furniture industry. That way, you can avoid drawbacks or any loses while purchasing your furniture.
Where You Should Buying Furniture from Indonesia
As earlier mentioned, there are many furniture manufacturers or self-employed artisans are exporting their furniture. This archipelago country is blessed with various quality lumber products, and with a decent craftsmanship, it is easier to produce quality furniture that suits the style of foreign market.
One of the cities known for their furniture is Jepara. Situated in Central Java, this city is notable for their impressive furniture. The number of manufacturers and artisans are increasing in this city as well. When it comes to self-employed artisans, usually the family business is running from one generation to another. Meanwhile, manufacturers can produce quality furniture with a distinctive, state of the art style which only Jepara furniture can have.
That’s why Jepara, although not as prominent as a downtown, is getting more attention for their furniture. Both avid local and foreign buyers become the reason why Jepara keeps producing furniture to meet the demand.
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Other places – Bali, for example, is also well-known as a furniture trading state. However, most of the wooden furniture offered there is supplied by Jepara. State capitals like Semarang and Surabaya offer furniture manufactured from factories as well.
For wicker rattan and its handicrafts, Solo is the right place. Solo also has a lot of furniture manufacturers like Jepara. Do you know what’s more interesting? Current Indonesia president, Joko Widodo, was also a furniture maker back then and started his career from this city.
What Kind of Furniture should You Buy from Indonesia?
Indonesia is well-known for their wooden furniture, thanks to the country countless natural resources. There are various types of furniture that can be found here. Find the right one and get your preferences be fulfilled.
Some types of wood which are popular to be used as furniture are teak and reclaimed teak wood, mango wood, mahogany wood, slab wood, acacia, mango wood, as well as mindi wood. Other less-prominent wooden types will include rattan, leather, iron, and fabric.
Furniture made from these materials can be imported from manufacturers or directly from the artisans themselves. Usually, if you are importing furniture from manufacturers, there will be a certain minimum order, such as 20/40 ft. container.
Wooden furniture
Indonesian wooden furniture has a high demand in both domestic and international market. As aforementioned, with abundant great resources as well as high-quality craftsmanship, these make Indonesian furniture to be more valuable.
Listed below are some furniture types you can found from Indonesian manufacturers: indoor and outdoor furniture, customized products, as well as furniture accessories.
Read What Is Teak Wood and What’s Actually So Great About It?
Indoor teak furniture
Mostly known to be one of the woods highest in quality, Indonesian indoor teak furniture becomes the prima donna for international market. The material is a good pick for buyers seeking for strenuous, authentic, and long-lasting woods. Hence, it comes to no surprise that teak furniture becomes the best-selling. In 2020, teak furniture styles are often combined with iron, making the looks to be more artistic with industrial accent.
Outdoor teak furniture
Due to its oil content that helps teak to be strong enough to tackle pests and moisture, teak becomes the ultimate wood of choice to make outdoor furniture. With such features in hand, teak furniture can withstand deteriorating, extreme outdoor conditions.
If you think there are only little variations to pick from, you’re utterly wrong. A plethora of models and styles of teak furniture will leave you in awe. Buying teak wood furniture for your business – let it be indoor or outdoor ones – will benefit you in the end. The price is not bad, especially if you have quality as the main consideration.
Reclaimed Teak Furniture
Reclaimed teak wood is used teak that is derived from boats or houses. These products will later be remade to furniture. Therefore, finding its artistic value, as well as its antique touch is not difficult. Moreover, it’s what most buyers are trying to find.
Dining Table
Choosing teak wood for dining table is a smart decision. Besides it has classic features, its longevity and compatibility to be combined with other materials (iron, for example) also make teak dining table is worth every buck. Both indoor and outdoor dining tables are possible to be found with this material.
Dual Materials Furniture (Wood-Iron)
Such combination paves its way to popularity these days and that’s no wonder for Indonesian artisans to get high demands making this kind of furniture. This type of furniture also has a high demand, especially for European market. With teak and iron combined altogether, long-lasting, strong, and weather-resistant furniture is no more a dream.
Custom furniture
Customizing your own furniture is also possible. This means you should find a trusted craftsman to make it for you, or experienced manufacturer if you are making it in mass quantity.
Wicker rattan furniture
What is wicker rattan furniture? Compared to rattan-only furniture, wicker rattan combines other materials, such as wood and metal (commonly aluminum). This furniture can be used for both indoor and outdoor with an exception that outdoor furniture should be a synthetic wicker rattan.
Upholstery furniture
One of the popular furniture from this style is sunbrella or sunproof, a combination of sunbed and parasol mostly placed in beaches. However, it does not stop there – plenty of sofas and chairs are ready to be picked out as well. Some of them may also have iron and aluminum as the minor materials.
Laminated wooden furniture
Laminating wood has a prime objective to protect the wooden furniture from cracks, scratches, heat, and bending. It is made from plywood materials as its basic construction, attached by 3mm, real solid sliced teak wood.
Even though its features may be different to all-teak furniture, the appearance is similar. Recently it gets more popular in Indonesia due to its reduced price. Aside from that, Indonesian laminated wooden furniture is also durable, crack, bend, and heat resistant. Hence, you don’t need polish/repainting/refinishing.
Price vs. Quality: Which One to Choose?
People said that with a price, comes the quality. Although this is mostly true, you can find furniture with competitive price from Indonesia. Sometimes you may become confused with many options to choose from. So, in order to avoid that confusion, below are some tricks you should consider before buying your furniture.
Make sure you acknowledge the materials used
Ask your craftsman, manufacturer, or supplier the materials used to make the furniture. You can ask them in detail, such as the material variant used in the making. For example, since teak wood has three grades, ask your provider which grade they used to make the furniture.
Pick a provider with good quality control
A good quality control will ensure you its output to be in the prime condition. Good manufacturers will provide you detailed information about the production processes, as well as their way to ensure its quality.
Strength and weakness
Different manufacturers, different ups and downs there will be. Make sure to check your furniture in detail to note the upsides and downsides of it. This may also include the checking of the craftsman/manufacturer background itself.
How to Purchase and Import Furniture from Indonesia
This section will explain you how to purchase and get your furniture exported from its origin country, Indonesia.
Find a manufacturer with legal certificate to export wood furniture
Not all wooden furniture manufacturers have this certificate, so make sure that the supplier you are going to have the permission to export processed-lumber products. Make sure that the supplier has SVLK certificate hence it fulfills the standard procedures to export wood furniture.
Read Brief Explanation of What is SVLK and Its Benefits
Make sure to arrange the furniture properly
This will include preparing the container to fit with your furniture size and number. Usually, people are requested to prepare 20HC or 40 HC containers.
Talk about the shipping terms
Most international buyers know that shipping big goods can be a bit tricky and risky. In terms of shipment, FOB or EXW are commonly used – both of which are contrasting each other.
FOB (Free on Board) means that the buyer will only need to pay for the delivery cost from the origin port until the destination port. With this method, buyer will benefit from making the option to choose the cheapest freight service.
EXW, or Exwork, means that the manufacturer/supplier will not take any part in mobilizing purchased furniture. Hence, buyers need to pay the delivery cost from the warehouse to the destination. This method is quite risky especially when buyer does not have any coverage for the furniture.
Payment terms
Normally, manufacturers will take around 30-50% deposit to proceed with the purchase.
What is the Best Time to Buy Furniture from Indonesia?
To know the answer, it’s best to consider both Indonesia’s and your country’s season. Indonesia has two seasons, and compared to rainy season, it’s better to purchase your furniture during the dry season.
Since furniture delivery takes around 1-2 months, considering when to sell your furniture can also be a great determiner when to purchase it. Usually, outdoor furniture is best-selling during spring season. Hence, you can also make the price higher when it comes to high demand. In contrary, winter is probably the rightest time to start importing or to focus more on selling indoor furniture.
Moisture Content and Its Importance
Just like its name implies, Moisture Content (MC) is the weight of water, measured and then relatively compared with the wood’s weight. What’s the importance of this term?
Exported furniture needs to have its MC around 12-15% only. Otherwise, exporting it is risky. The more moisture your furniture has, then the wood is high in risk to expand. In contrast, with lower moisture your furniture may shrink which will later infest in cracks or bend.
As a buyer, it’s important to talk about this to your manufacturer. Make sure you got the needed information about the kiln-drying process (if the furniture is wet, still).
Fumigation
To keep your furniture free from fungi or other pests, fumigation is a must-do procedure. Fumigan – the agent used to do this procedure, is given while considering some setting such as dose and temperature.
Fumigation is needed in order to avoid disadvantageous creatures, especially if you want to import your furniture from a place afar. Insects, fungi, and termites will not be able to damage the wooden furniture.
To get the procedure done, it is advised to ask your supplier to do it. Typically, it will be done shortly before the furniture is sent or exported.
Mutiara Jepara Indofurni, Your Solution for Jepara Teak Furniture
Jepara is the home for quality teak furniture, given that there are a lot of capable manufacturers and talented artisans in this city. Established and run in Jepara, Mutiara Jepara Indofurni can help to provide solution for your furniture needs – let it be for retail shop, business, wholesale market, or even project furniture.
We set teak furniture as our focus, and we are ready to provide you various furniture types. Starting from teak furniture, teak laminate furniture, teak reclaimed furniture, and modern teak furniture. This will include tables, dining tables, bookcases, office desks, dressers, cabinets, bar stools, and many others. In addition, we prepare various woods finishing as well making our product be on the upper side in the industry. You can kindly contact through the email at [email protected] to get free quotation.
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