Ignoring the energy crisis, deteriorating law and order and volatile political environment, Pakistan’s furniture industry has been expanding with many new entrants joining the bandwagon every year, says Turhan Baig Mohammad, Founder of All Pakistan Furniture Exporters Association.

“Regardless of how bad the situation may be, retail goods come first on the consumers’ list,” Mohammad told The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a five-day furniture exhibition that ended last week. “These factors don’t hurt customers’ purchasing power,” he said.

Consumer spending in Pakistan has increased by an average of 26% in the past three years, according to a Bloomberg report published on November 21, 2012 – a strong reflection of the ongoing retail boom.

It is not only fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) companies that benefited from the increase in consumer spending, furniture manufacturers, too, reaped the fruits of the consumer boomAccording to the World Trade Organization’s statistics, Pakistan’s exports of wooden furniture amounted to $51 million in 2011.

“Our exports represent a very small chunk of total business,” the association founder said. “The local furniture market is easily 50 times higher than our export market and it has always been this way,” he said.