Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – The flagship export furniture fair HawaExpo 2026 officially opened on March 4 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City, with its scale tripled compared with the previous edition.
Held under the theme “Gateway to Vietnam Furniture Prowess” and featuring more than 2,500 booths, the four-day event is expected to serve as a gateway to exploring the genuine capabilities of Vietnam’s wood and furniture industry, as well as a strategic trading hub for international markets.
Departing from the traditional exhibition model, HawaExpo 2026 distinguishes itself through its organisational structure. Rather than focusing primarily on display, the event has been designed as a “value journey” built upon the four strategic pillars of trade, design, green transformation and technical innovation. This in-depth approach reflects a determination to address the sector’s core challenges, including market expansion, value-added upgrading, compliance with green standards and productivity enhancement.
Phung Quoc Man, Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), underscored that the fair’s distinctive feature lies in the high level of domestic value embedded in made-in-Vietnam wood products. Nearly 90% of the exhibition space is devoted to showcasing furniture manufactured in the country.
According to Man, also the head of the organising committee, 79% of participating enterprises are exhibiting home furniture products, 12% supply raw materials and components, 2% operate in the project furniture segment, and a further 2% specialise in decorative accessories and handicrafts. The fair serves a dual function: providing a platform for high-quality trade connections, while also acting as a venue to promote Vietnam’s wood and furniture industry brand.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Quoc Tri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, noted that the increasing professionalisation of HawaExpo has made a positive contribution to the industry’s impressive export turnover of over 18.3 billion USD in wood and forestry products last year. Against a backdrop of volatile global trade, the fair stands as a symbolic trade promotion event affirming the position and resilience of the sector on the international stage.
Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, said that over its three editions, HawaExpo has successfully established a reputable brand contributing to the broader development of the wood industry business community, not only in the city but nationwide.
He added that wood and furniture constitute one of the city’s key export sectors, accounting for 10% of the municipal total export turnover of nearly 93 billion USD in 2025. Following administrative consolidation, the sector has benefited from a regionally linked ecosystem, combining the innovative dynamism of Ho Chi Minh City, the manufacturing hub of Binh Duong and the logistics gateway of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. This “three-pillar” structure provides a firm foundation for the industry to pursue ambitious export targets and to affirm the city’s as well as the country’s superior supply capacity in international markets./.
VNA
