KUCHING: The EU27+UK (European Union 27 member countries + United Kingdom) has lowered imports of tropical wooden furniture from Malaysia by double digits in the first four months of 2022 (4M2022).
During the period under review, their combined furniture imports from Malaysia slipped by 15 per cent to 37,000 tonnes. Malaysia was the third largest tropical supplying country.
Indonesia, on the other hand, recorded the largest gain of 18 per cent by shipping 42,000 tonnes of wooden furniture to EU27+UK, according to International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) Tropical Timber Market Report (July 16-31, 2022). Their shipments from Brazil also rose by eight per cent to 22,000 tonnes.
EU27+UK imports of wooden furniture from top supplier Vietnam were stable at 82,000 tonnes in 4M2022 but shipments dropped from other suppliers — India (-16 per cent to 35,000 tonnes), Thailand (-39 per cent to 3,000 tonnes) and Singapore (-53 per cent to 1,000 tonnes).
In 4M2022, EU27+UK imports of wooden furniture were down 10 per cent in quantity terms to 950,000 tonnes. Imports tonnage decreased from all main supply regions: by eight per cent from China to 460,000 tonnes, by three per cent from the tropics to 230,000 tonnes and by 17 per cent from other countries to 260,000 tonnes.
“Between 2015 and 2019, EU27+UK imports of wood furniture from outside the region increased fairly consistently at an average rate of 6 per cent per year. In 2020, the onset of the (COVID-19) pandemic and related logistical problems led to a slower rate of import growth of only around 3 per cent to 2.44 million tonnes. Last year, import growth accelerated sharply, rising over 20 per cent to 2.93 million tonnes.
“In recent years, by far the largest growth in EU27+UK wood furniture imports in quantity terms was from China. In terms of per cent growth rate, the largest growth was from countries neighbouring EU, notably Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia and Russia.
EU27+UK imports from tropical countries averaged no more than 2.4 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2019, and then fell 10 per cent to 560,000 tonnes in 2020. Last year, imports of tropical wood furniture rebounded 10 per cent to 610,000 tonnes,” said ITTO report.
Milan-based furniture research organisation, CSIL, predicts continuing good demand for furniture in Europe in 2022.
“According to CSIL, there are several positive factors expected to maintain strong demand for furniture in Europe in the coming months, including the continuing rollout of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), some significant national level support measures, such as a fiscal bonus in Italy which was extended into 2022, growth in residential construction in several European countries, and improved export market prospects for European manufacturers, driven both by increased affluence of consumers in some emerging markets, and by continuing efforts in the US to reduce dependence on imports from China,” said the ITTO report.
CSIL has pointed out that in the past two years, the European furniture sector had been marked by a significant mismatch between supply and demand.
“A sharp reduction in production of wood and other essential material inputs, severe logistical problems in international trade, rapidly rising freight rates, shortages of key staff, social distancing measures at manufacturing plants and a big increase in energy prices all placed limits on production and supply.
“This meant that while furniture production and imports rebounded strongly in many European countries, they failed to keep pace with an even sharper increase in demand. The rise in demand was mainly due to a shift in consumer spending away from travel and leisure towards home-related product categories and to cater for new home offices with the rise in remote working. There was also resumption in export market growth in 2021.
“The mismatch between demand and supply caused a general increase in furniture prices, initially at the manufacturing stage and partly absorbed by manufacturers, and then progressively transferred to final consumers.”
Eurostat data showed that while overall EU27 furniture production has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels before the end of 2021, production was still below these levels in many countries, including Germany, France, Sweden and Romania. In contrast, production in other countries, notably Poland and Lithuania, remained strong even during the first year of the pandemic, and continued to rise in 2021 and the first half of 2022.
