Furniture retailers and manufacturers here will be organized under an association to jointly face challenges being faced by them from the opening of up of the retail sector to foreign giants in the sector.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, K. Narayanankutty and T. Sanjin said that a district unit of the Furniture Manufacturers’ and Merchants’ Association (FuMMA) would be formed at a convention scheduled to be held at the Chamber Hall at 3 p.m. on March 22.
They said that in the age of globalisation, furniture sale and manufacture would be the most adversely affected by the opening up of the retail sector in the country. The formation of the organisation was the first step towards encouraging mutual trust and unity among the furniture traders and manufacturers to empower themselves to face the crisis together, they added.
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They said that the association was being formed to create awareness against exploitation in the sector, organise classes by experts to avert mistakes and loss of time, start marketing centres through formation of clusters as an alternative to foreign monopolies and to conduct training programmes to be attended by reputed furniture manufacture and marketing experts, among others. The association would also ensure a permanent mechanism for securing services of legal and technical experts, they added.