Hunan province creates furniture business hub

A major furniture business center is being built in Yiyang, Hunan province, aiming to become home to hundreds of enterprises from the prosperous Pearl River Delta, according to local authorities.

Shunde Town, a project jointly backed by the Shunde Furniture Industrial Association and more than 20 industrial alliances, will help upgrade the furniture business in Hunan, according to Xie Shoubao, vice mayor of Yiyang.

The center, which is divided into industrial and logistics zones, will include more than 2,000 furniture manufacturers and 300 logistics companies by 2020, according to the local authority.

"We will develop the center into a professional high-end furniture market by accepting more qualified businesses from the Pearl River Delta, as well as developing a number of self-innovated companies," said Xie.

Over the past three decades, China has developed five major furniture bases – the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, Chengdu in Sichuan province, the Bohai Rim and Northeast China.

"Furniture makers from traditional areas are welcome to move their businesses to Yiyang, as we are making efforts to develop furniture into a leading industry," said Xie who was speaking during a promotional conference for an annual furniture expo in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Wednesday. The expo will soon be held in Yiyang.

Currently, Hunan has more than 1,000 furniture manufacturers, with annual industrial output of more than 20 billion yuan, according to the provincial government.