According to the executive director of the Paços de Ferreira Business Association (AEPF), João Pedro Begonha, these buyers are major suppliers of furniture to the British market – and some of them also to other European countries. Among other clients, they supply luxury hotels (from 40 to 400 rooms), restaurants, spas, luxury housing based on decoration proposals made by designers or airport lounge areas, but orders to companies from the Capital of Furniture are still “residual”.


“We’ve had very positive feedback from the visits. Our entrepreneurs are highly flexible and find solutions to whatever is asked of them. In turn, the importers have already asked for quotes for future projects or even to produce prototypes to analyze the quality of the products,” he summarizes.


João Pedro Begonha points out that this is a “very effective” model for doing business, as it allows importers to get to know the manufacturing process, the facilities and test the products, “greatly increasing trust between the parties”. “The most important thing is that, in this process, an exhaustive survey of the participants’ portfolio was carried out, so the British come to Paços de Ferreira knowing perfectly well what they will find,” said AEPF’s executive director, João Pedro Begonha.

The furniture industries chosen to take part in this initiative, said João Pedro Begonha, were the nine that showed interest following a workshop on this market organized by AEPF. Estofal, AM Furniture, Lino Barros & Ferreira, Portos Mobiliário, Premium Sofá, Época Gold Mobiliário Internacional, Costa Pereira Mobiliário, Made to Last and Móveis Barbosa Neto are the companies that will be able to expand into a new market after this mission.
“We have to remember that the UK is a First World market and, as such, has enormous financial power. We have the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world with this market, something we’re going to remember and capitalize on for our entrepreneurs,” added the president of AEPF.

For a week, four British furniture importers visited nine industries in the Furniture Capital, on a reverse mission to replace their Italian and Spanish competitors. These importers, from the London and Manchester areas, were in the municipality of Paços de Ferreira to visit and meet individually with various furniture companies. The aim of this reverse mission was to show that these Portuguese industries "can perfectly replace Italian or even Spanish suppliers, as they have a comparable level of quality and can be more competitive" in terms of price.