Xianghe Furniture City A Rising Star in China's Furniture Industry

Unlike other major economies like the United States, Japan, and Europe, which are experiencing either slow growth, financial problems, or both, China has enjoyed rapid economic growth over the past decade and many cities and counties across the country have been competitively developing at an amazing pace. Many believe that China will continue playing the role of a locomotive driving the world's economy over the next decade.

One prime example of this economic dynamism is the China Xianghe Furniture City, composed of 30 furniture exhibition sites, which was established in late 1998 as the first permanent furniture exhibition venue in Xianghe County, Hebei Province. The Furniture City is located in the center of China's Bohai Rim Economic Circle and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Circle, only 45 kilometers from Beijing and 70 kilometers from Tianjin.

Today the facility houses a total of over 50 specialized exhibition halls focusing on such categories as red wood furniture, furniture sets for flats, office furniture, furniture sets for hotel suites, sofas, soft beds, outdoor items, rattan furniture, and arts and crafts. Together, the halls house a total area of 2.6 million square meters of exhibition space utilized by over 7,000 vendors.

A senior official of the Furniture City proudly claims that Xianghe County was noted for its furniture making as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties. With the growing demand for furniture products in China, the furniture manufacturing industry there started to boom in the 1980s.

Today the Furniture City welcomes over 20,000 customers per day and is the biggest furniture sales hub in northern China, supplying products to more than 10 provinces as well as marketing overseas to Northeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States. Its annual turnover amounts to over 24.5 billion renminbi (RMB), or about US$5.2 billion.

In 2012 the China National Furniture Association, Hebei Province Furniture Association, and Xianghe Furniture City began jointly organizing the China Xianghe International Household Cultural Festival to promote the furniture industry in Xianghe County. This year's event, held on Apr. 28 to May 3, attracted some 7,000 exhibitors who displayed over 100,000 furniture items to more than 20,000 professional visitors.

The organizers of the festival invited members of the International Alliance of Furnishing Publications (IAFP), among other distinguished guests, to attend the event. IAFP is recognized as a prestigious organization which supports the interests of the home furnishings industry by providing an open forum where members can meet and work to strengthen their industry.

Tommy Ni, general manager of CENS Furniture, an IAFP member, attended the event and praised the festival for its achievements. Ni believes that with the shift of the world's industrial focus to China, Xianghe's furniture industry will continue developing at an accelerating pace and Xianghe Furniture City will bring opportunities for the development.

It is reported that over the next five to 10 years, Xianghe Furniture City's exhibition area will be expanded to five million square meters and the number of vendors increased to 10,000. That will boost projected annual turnover above 100 billion RMB, or about US$20 billion.