Egypt’s Minister of Industry Khaled Hashem has held an expanded meeting with furniture manufacturers, designers, and producers of industry inputs to discuss the sector’s challenges and requirements and explore ways to develop the industry and strengthen its competitiveness in local and international markets.
The meeting was attended by Maha Saleh, Assistant Minister for Industrial Policies; Mahmoud Serag, Vice President of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI); and Khaled Abdel Azim, Executive Director of the FEI.
Discussions focused on deepening local manufacturing and replacing imports in major projects, activating digital marketing platforms, and supporting access to foreign markets through an integrated strategy.
Participants also discussed opening new export markets, particularly in Africa, Libya, and Iraq, while addressing customs and logistics barriers.
The meeting also examined the possibility of launching a comprehensive support programme for small and medium-sized furniture workshops. The programme would include specialised training to enhance the skills of technical workers, as well as governance, monitoring, and quality-control mechanisms to ensure compliance with standards and specifications.
Participants further reviewed the potential establishment of integrated industrial zones bringing together key furniture industry inputs and complementary activities in one location, including wood, foam, glass, and metals, in addition to research and development centres and logistics services. Such zones could help reduce logistics costs and facilitate manufacturing operations for investors and producers.
Hashem said the furniture industry was one of Egypt’s longstanding industrial sectors, with a rich history and an established global reputation, supported by promising competitive advantages that could enable significant growth.
However, he noted that the sector had yet to reach the desired level of performance relative to its actual potential.
He added that the Ministry of Industry was adopting an approach based on direct partnership and field engagement with experts and relevant stakeholders across productive sectors to identify actual needs and practical challenges and translate them into targeted, actionable plans.
The ministry also aims to keep pace with global developments and achieve a qualitative increase in Egyptian exports, he said.
The minister noted that the ministry had intensified field visits to furniture factories and manufacturing centres to assess production performance and identify ways to translate the sector’s competitive advantages into higher production capacity and improved quality.
Hashem stressed the need to establish a distinct identity for Egyptian furniture, strengthen cooperation between designers and manufacturers, and develop skilled craftsmen to ensure consistent quality.
He described design as a major source of added value in the furniture industry and said that upgrading Egyptian products to meet global competitiveness standards was a central objective requiring cooperation between state institutions and the private sector.
Furniture manufacturers and designers welcomed the government’s decision to establish a Local Product Preference Committee, chaired by the Ministry of Industry, saying it would support the growth and protection of Egypt’s furniture industry.
