KUALA LUMPUR: The furniture industry is staring at multi-million ringgit losses in potential revenue as the players are having difficulties coping with overseas orders due to the shortage of foreign workers.

Many factory owners also claim they are operating below capacity.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Furniture Entrepreneur Associa-tion president Richard Ko said some buyers even turned to other countries because of the long delivery period.

“There are more orders this year compared with last year.

“However, factories are finding it hard to cope with the orders as many foreign workers were retrenched or sent back in the last quarter of 2008 when the financial crisis hit,” he said in his welcome address at the opening of the Third Malaysian Furniture and Furnishing Fair here yesterday. Plantation Industries and Com-modities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok earlier opened the four-day fair.

In 2009, Malaysian furniture exports were valued at RM6.2bil and it was expected to increase to about RM7.4bil this year.

Malaysia is also currently the world’s ninth biggest furniture exporter with the top markets being the US, Japan, Britain, Australia and Singapore.

Dompok in an immediate response said he would bring up the industry’s plight to the Cabinet.

“We will have a roundtable discussion with the other ministries to resolve the matter,” he said.