Tešanj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (AFP) – The screech of chainsaws echoes by way of a Bosnian forest edged by snowy peaks, the place lumber is to be crafted into high-end furnishings to adorn European or South Korean houses.
Promoting Learn extra
The Bosnian furnishings trade has seen regular development, punctuated by an sudden growth in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic as provide chains in China floor to a halt, permitting new opponents to edge right into a profitable market.
It has confirmed to be a uncommon success story within the Balkan nation that has been affected by many years of financial malaise following a disastrous civil conflict within the Nineteen Nineties.
Within the northern Bosnian city of Tesanj, the furnishings firm Artisan has been key to the sector’s surge. Its worker headcount has jumped from 200 to 300 up to now three years alone, based on gross sales supervisor Armin Huremovic.
Based in 2007, the corporate made its mark overseas 5 years later at a world commerce truthful in Cologne, Germany.
“It took us a very long time to realize belief as a result of we come from Bosnia,” Huremovic instructed AFP.
However the gamble has paid off.
$855 for a chair
Their hardwood furnishings — some designed by the likes of Canadian-US artist Karim Rashid and German product designer Michael Schneider’s agency — is now exported to greater than 65 nations.
They provide chairs that promote for round 800 euros ($850) and tables that simply fetch almost 9,000 euros.
Europeans have turned to Balkan producers amid difficulties importing from China © ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP
Because of this, virtually all manufacturing is exported with stock typically past the attain of patrons in Bosnia, the place the typical wage is simply 570 euros a month.
Even then, Bosnia has captured solely a minimal share of the European furnishings market, estimated to be value about 96 billion euros in 2020.
The nation is wealthy, nonetheless, in one of many trade’s main constructing blocks — wooden.
In accordance with Ognjenka Lalovic, an official on the Bosnian Chamber of International Commerce, the lumber trade “accounts for 10 to fifteen p.c of complete exports”.
These exports have steadily grown for years, though there are fears of a setback in 2023 because of the financial fallout linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
The sector owes its success to “high quality uncooked supplies, an skilled workforce and custom”, says Lalovic.
Forest cowl
“We’re one of many few nations in Europe the place 60 p.c of the floor is roofed by forests.”
Situated within the Dinaric Alps, Bosnia is blanketed by dense woodlands, together with one of many final major forests on the continent — Perucica — within the southeast.
Exports from the furnishings trade have been steadily rising for years © ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP
Eldin Sabeta, head of gross sales at Normal Furnishings Manufacturing unit — one of many nation’s largest exporters, stated Bosnian producers have persistently crafted excellent merchandise at extra inexpensive costs in comparison with many opponents.
Like different native producers, the corporate specialising in hardwood eating room items has reaped the rewards of the upheaval attributable to the coronavirus.
Confronted with difficulties importing from China and Asia at giant, European shops have more and more turned to Balkan producers.
“We have seen a internet enhance over the previous two years,” says Sabeta. “Each month, a brand new buyer knocks on our door.”
“They want dependable suppliers,” he provides.
© 2023 AFP