China Int'l Furniture Fair Guangzhou 2009 Leads Office Segment in Asia

Being the 23rd staging this year, the China International Furniture Fair Guangzhou (CIFFG) 2009, held March 18-30, 2009, has definitely earned its honor as the "Asian trading center for office furniture," during which hundreds of exhibitors displayed wide-ranging office, business, and household furniture in one of the biggest exhibitions venues globally.

The CIFFG 2009, a 12-day event that is as long as it's wide in product coverage, was held in two stages, March 18-21 for the first stage and March 27-30 for the second. With both parts at the China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex, the first stage focuses on household furniture, including furnishings for outdoors, leisure, kitchen, and textiles, art objects and ceramics, with the second stage dedicated to office furniture, woodworking machines, and furniture accessories.

Phenomenal Growth

The previous fair, held in March 2008, scored phenomenal growth, with the total exhibition area rising over 70% to 130,000 square meters, over which 642 exhibitors, including many famous makers, showcased a wide assortment of products, including office tables, chairs, furniture for public venues, schools, lodging industry etc. The show attracted 57,073 visitors, 11,456 of which or 20% came from 159 countries. And coverage by over 200 media gave the CIFFG 2008 extensive exposure.

The first-stage of the CIFFG 2009 occupied 300,000 square meters, almost the entirety of the China Import and Export Pazhou Complex, the world's second-largest exhibition center with some 340,000 square meters and consisting of A, B, and C areas. Just inaugurated in September 2008, the area C boasts 12 exhibition halls totaling 90,000 square meters and is connected to the A and B areas via overpasses.

The second-stage was spread across 200,000 square meters in 21 exhibition halls in the A and B areas.

Similar to the 2008 edition, the CIFFG 2009 also staged an expansive area for the overseas exhibitors, living up to its slogan "first in Asia, top in the world." Besides displaying mostly household and office furniture, the overseas exhibitors consisted of many famous brands from the West and Southeast Asia.

A few major exhibitors are profiled as follow:

Zhongrui Furniture Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1993, the company, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Zhongrui Group, focuses on the production of office furniture, which are sold in the domestic market as well as exported to the U.S., Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia. Located in Shanxi Province and staffed by 700, Zhongrui Furniture is the only furniture maker with an export permit in northwestern China.

A proven maker of good-quality products, Zhongrui Furniture complies with the national grade-A standards and is ISO9001 certified, as well as having won the gold product-design awards at the 15th China International Furniture Fair Guangzhou in 2005; the 19th CIFFG in 2007, and 21st fair in 2008.

Kangdixing Furniture Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2000, Kangdixing Furniture turns out solid-wood furniture that has helped earn the honor as "excellent green products of China," enabling the maker to be known as a "famous Chinese brand," hence making its line preferred by many customers in the private and public sectors.

With about 80% of its cutting-edge machinery imported from Germany and Italy, the maker crafts solid-wood dining tables and chairs at four factories, where quality control teams watch closely to make sure output is of top-caliber before being exported worldwide.

Besides stressing service as its core competence, Kangdixing Furniture is loyal to the mission of enhancing modern residential living and green society. Making the most of advanced design to achieve its strategy of "brand differentiation," the maker also practices savvy marketing and management methods that help to further strengthen its image as the primary brand for solid-wood furniture in China.

Also a dedicated maker of green furniture, Kangdixing Furniture adopts eco-friendly practices for everything from selection of raw materials, product design, manufacturing, packaging to shipping.

Kuoching Office Furniture Group

Highly regarded as a maker of office chairs backed by ISO9001 certification, Kuoching Office Furniture enjoys a solid reputation for quality. Besides doing business in China, the supplier also exports to the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Ningbo Fuban Furniture Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2002, Ningbo Fuban Furniture is a subsidiary of Fuban (Holdings) Ltd., a top-500 enterprise in China. The largest furniture maker and exporter in Zhejiang Province, the supplier runs seven factories equipped with cutting-edge machinery imported from Germany, Italy and Japan.

Exporting all its output in 2008, Ningbo Fuban Furniture generated 500 million yuan in revenues by turning out high-end, American-styled furniture. The same year saw the supplier set up a subsidiary dedicated to producing modified American-styled furniture to tap the domestic market.