HawaExpo 2025 furniture fair to open in Ho Chi Minh City

Under the patronage of the former Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and coordinated by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, HawaExpo promises to be a creative playground, showcasing the latest advances in design and technology of Vietnam's wood export industry, meeting the global sustainability transition.

According to the organisers, the Viforest Fair and operated by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the fair aims to reassert Vietnam's competitiveness with international buyers, and provide maximum exposure for domestic enterprises qualified to export.

Nguyen Chanh Phuong, a representative of the organisers, said that all the exhibitors were careful selected, of which more than 80 per cent are businesses with manufacturing factories in Vietnam.

"The special attraction of HawaExpo is that it provide a true trading platform for international buyers interested in Vietnam's wood and furniture export industry, which fully displays the capacity to produce modern designs and the quintessence of traditional national carpentry identity," said Phuong.

Talking with VIR, Tony Lee Yueh Hua, Sintai Furniture's executive director, an exhibitor in HawaExpo 2025, expressed his hope to promote production at the incoming event.

Sintai Furniture was established in Taiwan and China in 1991. The company expanded into Vietnam, building a Sintai Vietnam factory with a total area of ​​50,000 sq.m in Binh Duong province, in 2014.

Today, 90 per cent of Sintai's total revenue comes from factories in Vietnam. In the future, it plans to expand and develop new furniture lines, exclusively for the Vietnamese domestic market.

"Sintai appreciates the Vietnamese market because of its good government index, stable political situation, and long history of producing furniture. So it possesses a complete furniture production and export supply chain system. Compared to neighbouring countries in the region, Vietnamese workers are highly skilled and experienced, and at competitive costs," said Tony Lee Yueh Hua, Sintai Furniture's executive director.

Another exhibitor, A&M Vietnam, currently exports 400 containers of products monthly to Japan to meet demand there. The company is expanding in Asia, such as in Taiwan, with plans to move into the European, US, New Zealand, and Australian markets. To achieve this, the company has set up a technical team to research the demands and tastes of each target market, while at the same time, improve its designs to ensure compliance with new requirements.

The United States, the world's largest furniture market, has a stricter set of quality standards than other market groups, different from the product line which the company is producing.

"So we aim to approach the European market first, because it is closer to the standards we have achieved. We will produce products more suitable for the US market afterwards," said Komatsu Toru, general director of A&M Vietnam.

Toru spoke of the company's many challenges in 2025, saying, "Since Japan is still a key market, the most enduring challenge in the performance of export businesses remains the ongoing depreciation of the yen. Therefore, we aim to limit our dependence on the yen, and produce and export normally."

HawaExpo is a Wooden and Furniture Export Fair with more than 80 per cent made-in-Vietnam businesses carefully selected from two main groups, including businesses with top export production capacity in the industry, meeting diverse needs and scales, and businesses possessing impressive design and creative capabilities, creating specific marks in the process of development and understanding of the consumer market.

The HawaExpo 2025 will present more than 300 exhibitors showcasing the finest creations from Vietnam’s manufacturing sector. The event is estimated to welcome more than 15,000 visitors from 100 countries and regions, making it an ideal opportunity to tap into the heart of the Asian furniture chain.

An Cuong seeks export partners at HawaExpo 2023 A wide assortment of export-standard wood-working materials, solutions and furniture from An Cuong Wood Working Materials JSC are on display at the ongoing Ho Chi Minh City Export Furniture Fair, HawaExpo 2023.

HawaExpo 2024 attracts more than 500 exhibitors HawaExpo 2024, the largest nationally endorsed export furniture fair in Vietnam, will gather more than 500 Vietnamese brands from March 6 to 9 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) and White Palace Pham Van Dong in Ho Chi Minh City.