Spanish furniture manufacturers, in a trade mission to Ghana

In June 18 to 22 a group of 8 Spanish furniture firms, coordinated by ANIEME and with the support of the Spanish Economic & Commercial Office in Ghana, was visiting Accra in order to make contacts with the local main players in the real estate and interior design sectors: Actiu, Ofifran, Montero, Vicente Zaragozá Soher, Contradictions, Joenfa and Curvasa.

Companies had a first contact with importers, interior designers, architects, developers and hospitality groups in a B2B meeting that will take place in one the most renowned hotels in Accra. Then, the firms was visiting the showrooms and studios of the Ghanaian firms in order to show them their latest product catalogues and collections.

The trade mission has been included in the promotional plan of Mueble de España after a previous market research carried out by ANIEME on December 2012. Good short-term trading opportunities have been opened up for Spanish producers of different types of furniture, but the survey highlights above all the growing demand of integral equipment for the contract sector in different segments: offices, hotels, restaurants, shopping centres, private residences etc…

The growing urbanization and real estate market have led over the latest years to a significant increase of the furniture imports and as a consequence Ghana has turned itself into a main target for the Spanish furnishing industry. In addition to this, the opening of new shopping malls and restaurants, as well as the new hotels of important five and four star hotel chains – Marriott, Kempinski, Mövenpick, Radisson Blu y Novotel -, that require integral equipment services, set a new challenge for Spanish furniture exporters.

Having almost doubled its furniture imports over 2007 to 2011, Ghana has been gaining positions as a main market for many European countries that are pushing their furnishing products into African emerging countries: Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, in the Sub-Saharan region, and Morocco and Algeria in the Maghreb.

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