The 15th edition of “World Furniture Outlook” Seminar organized by CSIL Centre for Industrial Studies, April 2016

The 15th edition of the “World Furniture Outlook” Seminar organized by CSIL, Centre for Industrial Studies, took place on April 13th 2016, at the Congress Centre of Fiera Milano Rho with a large participation of over 100 professionals and representatives of institutions and trade associations of the woodworking and furniture industry.

The furniture sector is becoming more and more globalized and has to tackle common issues in the attempt of increasing competitiveness. CSIL is constantly monitoring and studying these issues and the annual “World Furniture Outlook” Seminar offers the occasion to share results of CSIL research activity with sector experts and look at future perspectives of the furniture industry and related sectors on a world scale.

CSIL experts introduced their forecasts concerning the furniture sector worldwide and commented on the main factors affecting production, consumption and trade of furniture on a global scale.
CSIL findings were discussed with selected corporate and institutional representatives as keynote speakers, giving a speech on the internationalization strategies operated in the global market.
The world furniture industry
World furniture production is worth more than US$ 400 billion (data are in current US$). Around 35% of the value is exported, whereas 65% is consumed in the countries where production takes place.

This estimate is based on CSIL processing of data from official sources, both national and international, that cover the 72 most important countries worldwide.

World production of furniture broken down by geographical regions is presented in Figure 2. Over half of world furniture production takes place in Asia and Pacific, a share increasing year after year. Europe, followed by North America are the two other main manufacturing regions on a world scale.

The major producing countries are: China, the US, Germany, Italy and India. Some of the main producers are also important exporters, namely: China, Italy and Germany.

Among the ten major consuming countries, four are from Asia and Pacific (China, India, Japan and Australia), four from Europe (Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy) and two from North America (United States and Canada).

A sizeable percentage of international furniture trade is carried out within the economic regions into which the world economy can be divided. On balance, trade within regions amounts to one half of total world furniture trade.

CSIL furniture consumption growth forecast for the year 2017 is about 2% in real terms with higher increases in Asia and North America, modest growth in Europe and a decrease in furniture consumption in South America.

If the world scenario shown in Table 1 materializes, world trade of furniture would be likely to grow to US$ 131 billion in 2016 (in current US$), growing by 23% from the value of 2010 (US$ 106 billion).

The world upholstered furniture industry
World production of upholstered furniture is worth US$ 69 billion in 2015 including about one third for exports. The upholstered furniture production represents about 17% of total world furniture production.

The major producing countries are: China, the US, Poland and Italy.

World trade of upholstered furniture (in current dollars) is worth almost US$ 23 billion in 2015.

The bulk of upholstered furniture exports originates in China, Poland, Italy, Germany, the US and Romania and flows to the US, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Japan.

At world level the import penetration represents about one third of total upholstered furniture consumption.
Most major markets have opened substantially to foreign imports. Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Japan, which are among major consuming countries, have an import/consumption ratio higher than 50%.

The world upholstered furniture industry
World production of upholstered furniture is worth US$ 69 billion in 2015 including about one third for exports. The upholstered furniture production represents about 17% of total world furniture production.

The major producing countries are: China, the US, Poland and Italy.

World trade of upholstered furniture (in current dollars) is worth almost US$ 23 billion in 2015.

The bulk of upholstered furniture exports originates in China, Poland, Italy, Germany, the US and Romania and flows to the US, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Japan.

At world level the import penetration represents about one third of total upholstered furniture consumption.
Most major markets have opened substantially to foreign imports. Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Japan, which are among major consuming countries, have an import/consumption ratio higher than 50%.