ABIMÓVEL: for three decades building a history of credibility and advances for the furniture sector
Representing Brazil’s furniture industry from north to south, ABIMÓVEL — the Brazilian Furniture Manufacturers Association — has been working for nearly five decades to strengthen the national furniture sector. With a proactive agenda and in close cooperation with public and private stakeholders, the association leads a range of initiatives aimed at boosting production, improving the business environment, and opening new markets for companies across the country’s wood and furniture supply chain.
+18.500
benefited companies
+270
thousand jobs created
ABIMÓVEL’s commitment
it’s with the development of the
sector and industry.
“ABIMÓVEL plays a vital role in advocating for the furniture industry, enhancing its competitiveness, and supporting the internationalization of the wood and furniture value chain through a strategic and assertive agenda. Our mission is to strengthen this sector, which plays a fundamental role in Brazil’s economy.”
Irineu Munhoz
President of Abimóvel
Our story
ABIMÓVEL’s history is deeply intertwined with the development of Brazil’s furniture industry. From the outset, it has represented the sector’s interests and worked to build a stronger, more innovative and competitive production chain. Its foundation lies in collective effort, industry collaboration, and a long-standing commitment to institutional representation.
The origins of ABIMÓVEL date back to 1979, when manufacturers and regional leaders came together to form AFAM — the Association of Furniture Manufacturers of Brazil. In its early years, AFAM operated as a federation of regional associations, without direct links to individual companies. However, as the industry matured and the need for broader dialogue with the market and government grew, so too did the association’s scope and representativeness.
This transformation culminated in 1992, during an Extraordinary General Assembly, when ABIMÓVEL was officially established as the Brazilian Furniture Manufacturers Association, with a new name, a new structure, and national coverage. From that point on, the association began to play a more strategic and direct role in advocating for the furniture production sector, embracing new priorities, voices, and responsibilities.
Since then, ABIMÓVEL has maintained a steady and dynamic agenda to strengthen the industry. Its work ranges from fostering domestic production to unlocking access to international markets; from encouraging innovation and design integration to promoting environmental sustainability and industrial modernization. The association also supports small and medium-sized enterprises and leads technical standardization efforts for the sector.
These initiatives are carried out in partnership with key institutions such as ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), Sebrae (Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service), and ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards), among others.
At first, the entity brought together only regional associations, not the companies in the sector, functioning as a kind of Federation. The development of its actions and the natural maturing process of the furniture industry, however, demanded the expansion of our efforts and representation.
In 1996, ABIMÓVEL created the Furniture Enhancement Program, focusing on increasing the consumption of furniture in Brazil. It was also in that year that the association signed a partnership agreement with Itamaraty and Sebrae – the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, constituting an internal block for the survey of current data of the furniture companies; and an external one, for international market research and commercial promotion.
It was based on these actions that the entity reactivated its participation in events in the foreign market and signed a financial cooperation agreement with Sebrae and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aiming at the international insertion program for the Brazilian furniture industry.
The partnerships with the Federal Government, in fact, provided important export programs, requiring the creation of the Sector’s Chamber. Contacts were then established with Italy, in particular with Acimall – the Italian Woodworking Machinery, and Tools Manufacturers’ Association, in addition to several missions for the Salone del Mobile.Milano. ABIMÓVEL also joined the Mobilization Committee, in the Action-Agreement Business Coordination, a movement composed of national class entities.
Continuing with our goal to increase the competitiveness of the Brazilian furniture industry in the international market through a set of strategic actions of expansion actions, ABIMÓVEL leads the Brazilian Furniture Project. The initiative, carried out jointly with Apex-Brasil – The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, has more than 170 companies that have access to information on Commercial and Competitive Intelligence, International Trade Fairs and Missions, Buyer and Seller Projects, among others business activities abroad.
Moreover, fulfilling the ideal of being a strategic and directive bridge between the industrial and the economic teams – gathering, sharing and defending the needs and propositions of our entrepreneurs with the National Congress and the Federal Government -, ABIMÓVEL installed in 2019 the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of the Furniture Industry, with the support of more than 200 deputies and senators.
