The Vietnam Furniture and Home Furnishing Fair opened Thursday in Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District.

The fair focuses this year on attracting more domestic consumers, organizers said.

Organized by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC (Hawa), VIFA Home 2010, which will remain open until next Monday, features 400 booths displaying products from nearly 150 local companies involved in wood processing, fine arts and interior decoration.

Products on display include indoor and outdoor furniture, interior decoration products like curtains, fabric, flooring materials, kitchen equipment, lights, picture frames, ornamental trees and handicraft products including porcelain, pottery, rattan and bamboo.

With a population of 86 million and increasing incomes, Vietnam is a promising market for furniture and other wooden products, said Phan The Hao, head of the HCMC representative office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“Vietnam’s furniture and wood products are present in more than 120 countries, earning about US$3 billion a year, but local producers have ignored the local market and focused on export markets, opening the door for an influx of imported products,” Hao said.

A recent Hawa survey found just 20 percent of the domestic sales volume of wooden products is supplied by local businesses, while the remainder coming from foreign markets such as mainland China, Taiwan and Thailand.

The economic downturn last year has made local producers realize the importance of the local market, said Hawa chairman Nguyen Chien Thang.

The fair is a big chance for local firms to study consumer tastes and expand their distribution network in the domestic market, so that they gradually increase their shares here, he said.

(VNA)