The German furniture industry has reached a 5,4% increase in the first ten months of 2015, gaining 14.4 billion euros in sales. For the full year, there is a growth expectation of 5%, according to the German Furniture Indstry VDM. Good conditions are expected in 2016 too.
The development of construction actions will increase as the interest rates are lower and private consumption will probably raise Germany’s economy up to 1.6-2.2%. Still, there is a high import pressure from the East and the Far East and the expectations don’t look so good. The changing global markets have debilitated the German economy and security as in the second half of 2015 the consumption indices were very low, VDM reports.
The German furniture manufacturers foresee a sale increase of only 1% for 2016.
All of the German furniture industry sections announced big sales in the first 10 months of 2015.
The largest section of the industry, the household furniture and other furniture, had a 4.3% rise (5.9 billion euros). Still, only the garden furniture, steel and plastic furniture, small furniture and furniture parts had a significant growth, while classical home furniture had lower sales than in the previous years.
The mattress manufacturers announced a significant turnover of up to 22.1%, to 780 million euros. Moreover, the office furniture section had a 1.7 billion euros growth, 1.6% more than in 2015, while the kitchen furniture section rose to 3.8 billion euros growth in sales, up to 6.1%, during January-October 2015. Upholstered furniture German manufacturers stated big sales for this sector, up to 2.9% (870 million euros).
Regarding the exports, the data gathered from the first ten months of 2015 showed that the total volume reached 8.4 billion euros, going up by 5.6%. Exports made to the UK went up by 9.2%, while those to Austria went down by -0.2%. In between, the German furniture exports to Switzerland rose by 8.7%, such as Spain and the Netherlands, which grew consistently. Exports to the Netherlands increased by 6.9% and those to Spain went up to 22.4%. Also, exports to France decreased by 1.1%.
Bearing in mind that one third of the German furniture exports goes to non-EU countries, sales in China grew by 3.7% and the ones to the USA went up by 23.9%. Furniture exports to the USA might grow, as favorable exchange rate developments regarding the dollar are expected due to the low interest rate policy from 2016.
Imports to Germany grew by 5.2% and the main suppliers are China, with a 18.2% growth, Czech Republic, whose imports grew by 9.9% and Poland, with a 4.7% increase.
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