SHANGHAI, China — China’s domestic home furnishings demand is flat and the result is an oversupply position according to most market observers here but there are exceptions. First time visitors and exhibitors to Intertextile seemed to fare better at this year’s exhibition here. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles’ 22nd edition says it had 1,142 exhibitors from 30 countries and regions attracted 37,779 visitors from 98 countries and regions, a drop from the previous edition of 2015, which attracted 42,048 visitors. “Our experience at Intertextile was positive as a first time visitor,” says Mandy Heimann, Director and Buyer for Orson and Blake Collection, Australia, an upmarket furniture and accessories wholesaler. ‘Though we source furniture as well as sofa fabrics from China and visit other furniture shows in China, we had not been to this show and we are glad we did,” she says. She visited the show along with her husband David Heimann also director of the company. “Our visit to the show was eventful and we are now tied up with a Mongolia based exporter for our cashmere line of made-ups and we are looking around to source other objects that suit us,” they add. To the Western countries, exporting to China has been difficult to enter and penetrate as China produces similar merchandize. In case of Sorensen Leathers, Denmark a 43-year-old company, the experience has not been different. The company has been exhibiting in Hong Kong market and since 6 years has been reaching to high-end customers for its contract line upholstery hides. ‘We have been trying to find a market in China for some time and we exhibited in the show for the first time and made   contacts in the China market as well wrote few orders,” says Mads Sorensen, Sales Director & Partner. “China is still very much into price, not easy but with the quality we have, there are still and always will be many wealthy who are sure to appreciate nice and genuine exclusive leather from us,” he adds. “Experiences of Pasaya brand, Thailand was also positive. “We interacted with buyers from Australia, South Africa, and UK as well as other countries,” says Nicholas Bernhardt, country Sales & Marketing Manager, Pasaya Thailand.  Pasaya collection had positive enquiries but in future exhibitions we will be showing all of Satin Textiles collections,” he added. Some companies have been making efforts to add value with increased profits instead of increasing turnover. “The general demand is weak in our domestic markets though so far our top-line growth has been better mainly due to steadily growing US markets’, says Yak Wang, President, Zhejian Babei Textile Co. Ltd, China. The company is a major player in the production of silk fabrics to high-end buyers in the US. Yang also observes the slowing demand in European markets due to the high cost of silk. As a result, the company is making efforts to become more economical in silk pricing by blending silk with other fibers such as Modal. “Our new strategy that we adapted last year has paid off to earn better profits,“ Wang says. “For the past18 months, Babei has maintained its share in silk bedding fabrics in China,“ he adds. “We created more value by adding related services such as providing a complete package for the decoration of high end homes in collaboration with interior designers.  The margins are good (as high as 80percent) and we have stopped the earlier way of doing business, which was to produce and sell.  Now we focus on designing with inputs from buyers and interior designers,” Wang says. The common reasoning by the home furnishing fabrics exporters is that price points are getting hit because most of the suppliers are offloading their products in the market at ridiculous prices. ‘Excess supplies are chasing the frozen demand, causing the dumping of goods in order to keep their capacity utilization to breakeven levels: this is worsening the situation as buyers sensing the advantage of over supplies is seeking to the lower prices further’, says Amitabh Sen, Vice President, Marketing for Alps Industries Ltd. India, a blackout producer. “Regarding the market situation we feel that the demand is frozen throughout the global market though some promising markets still exist.”  “However, there is no clue this has percolated to home furnishings spending’, Sen says. “Also we have no clue or ability to predict how this frozen market demand will defreeze. Currently, the market place is directionless’, he adds. “We are a large vertically integrated textile mill and do huge exports of cotton, viscose & poly blend yarns and home textile fabrics are steadily increasing its market share too’, said R.R Kankani, Joint Executive President, Birla Home Décor division of Sutlej Textile industries Ltd, India. The company has moderate production capacity and will never lose an order for the sake of price. We are well prepared to compete on price even with any other leading competitor,” he says. “This is worsening the situation as buyers sensing the advantage that comes with too much supply, look for even lower prices,” says Amitabh.