There are about 110 furniture showrooms along Begum Rokeya Sarani. Instead of putting up separate stalls somewhere else, these showrooms have been nicely decorated to attract customers, turning the area into a festive mood.

The shops taking part in the 15-day fair that started on March 1, include the reputed brands like Hatil, Akhtar, Paris, Kalam, Brothers, Golden Teak in the Mirpur Furniture Market, the largest in Bangladesh, said Bangladesh Furniture Owners Association (BFOA) sources.

Mainly home and office furnishings caught the attention of many visitors thronging the fair but most were dissatisfied with the high price of the products.

Latifunnesa, a housewife from Badda said:"Though the furniture being shown are elegant thanks to nice design and colour, the price is beyond my reach".

Akmol Hossain, a businessman, said:"Not only the price is high, some of the small houses are actually selling items by falsely claiming that their products are made of Teak wood."

Organisers and participants said the taste of the consumers has changed a lot over the years and that has driven them to the exposition. On the other hand some visitors said that the apartments and modern office complexes in the city with modern architectural design have given rise to the need of new and creatively designed furniture as well.

The organisers are satisfied with the response to the fair. "Despite the day to day problems in the city, the fair drew large crowds in the first few days", said Md Bazlul Karim, secretary of the Mirpur unit of BFOA and convenor of this fair.

About the highly priced products, Bazlul said Teak wood, popularly known as Shegun from Chittagong Hill Tracts now costs Tk 2,600 per cft, compared to Tk1000 one and a half years ago. Similarly, the price of Burmese Teak wood also rose to TK3000 from Tk 1200 per cft.

Timber traders in Dhaka alleged that syndicated groups of traders are trying to create an artificial crisis by holding timber stock at the hill districts while making money by importing timber from China, Malaysia and other countries.

They also complained that supply of wood like Teak, Chapalish, Garjon, Gamari and many others from Rangamati, Chittagong, Bandarban and Sylhet has almost stopped.

Nazrul Islam Bahar, manager of Kalam Furniture and Saw Mill said, "We heard about some outlets selling fake items to customers. To curb this, most of the outlets have pasted the name of the wood on the price tag".

Other shop owners said the prices of the products are fixed so that there is no scope for bargaining plus discounts up to 15 percent is also given on the goods. And to encourage customers, there is a free home delivery service and a one-year warranty.

This festival has been organised by BFOA's Mirpur Regional Branch with logistical support from KATALYST, a development project funded by a consortium of European donors.